LIFE  AND  JAINISTFW 
0FJ6SXJS 

BY 

IWJDOLPH  OTTO,  LIC.TH. 


CHRISTIANITY  OF  TO-DAY  SERIES 


Division 
Section 


Christianity  of  To-da  y  Series 


GOD — An  Inquiry  Into  the  Nature  of  Man's 
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JESUS  AND  MODERN  RELIGION 

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WHA  T  WE  KNOW  ABOUT  JESUS, 

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LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS, 
ACCORDING  TO  THE  HISTORICAL 
METHOD.  Being  a  Course  of  Lectures  by 
Rudolph  Otto,  lie.  th.  Translated  from 
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PA  RA  LIPOMENA .  Remains  of  Gospels  and 
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Life  and  Ministry  of  Jesus 

According  to  the 

Historical  and  Critical  Method 


Being  a  Course  of  Lectures  by 
\/  

Rudolph  Otto,  Lie.  Th. 


Translated  from  the  Third  Unaltered  Edition  by 
H.J.  Whitby,  B.  D. 


Chicago 
The  Open  Court  Publishing  Co. 

London  Agents:   Kegan  Paul,  Trench,  Triibner  &  Co.,  Ltd. 

1908 


Copyright  1 908 

by 

THE  OPEN  COURT  PUBLISHING  CO. 

CHICAGO 


PREFACE. 

Two  images  of  the  life  and  the  ministry  of  Jesus 
confront  us  to-day;  the  ecclesiastical  image,  which  is 
the  product  of  unsifted  matter,  and  the  critical,  which 
is  the  product  of  matter  that  has  passed  the  ordeal  of 
the  critical  and  historical  method.  A  few  friends  of 
the  Church  in  Hanover  desired  to  acquire,  in  outline 
at  least,  a  knowledge  of  this  latter.  This  led  to  the 
preparation  and  finally  to  the  publication  of  these 
lectures.  The  wisdom  of  venturing  a  sketch,  where  a 
complete  picture  was  necessary,  of  "popularizing" 
sciences  which  were  as  yet  hardly  complete,  of  saying 
things  that  might  perhaps  create  danger  and  unrest, 
may  well  be  questioned.  Such  considerations  led  the 
lecturer  to  permit  at  first  only  a  limited  and  manuscript 
impression  of  them.  But  the  need  of  reforming  and 
developing  our  traditional  and  ecclesiastical  views  is  so 
urgent  and  imperative  as  to  justify  every  honorable 
attempt  directed  to  this  end.  And  if  the  sciences  of 
historical  and  critical  investigation  are  not  yet  com- 
plete, the  general  foundation  and  the  entire  direction 
of  the  movement  have  been  determined  long  ago. 
And  if  these  investigations  into  the  origins  of  our 
religion  disturb  and  disquiet  some,  they  emancipate 
and  reinstate  others.  The  knowledge  that  these 
lectures  were  instrumental  to  such  ends  and  the  fact 
that  a  mere  manuscript  impression  called  forth  a 
public  attack,  led  to  their  publication.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  intention  of  the  author  will  be  so  far 
respected  as  to  restrain  any  one  from  using  them  for 
purposes  of  propaganda,  and  that  his  judgment  regard- 
ing them  shall  be  accepted,  namely,  that  if  they  succeed 
in  getting  the  readers  to  properly  relate  themselves  to 
the  subjects  under  discussion  and  to  acquaint  them- 
selves more  thoroughly  with  them,  their  mission  will 
have  been  fulfilled. 

Gottingen,  February,  1902. 


CONTENTS. 

I.  THE  HISTORICAL  SOURCES  FOR  THE   LIFE 
AND  THE  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS  CHRIST: 

The  four  leading  Pauline  letters;  The  four  Gospels; 
The  difference  between  the  Synoptics  and  the 
Fourth  Gospel;  The  Fourth  Gospel  not  an  histor- 
ical source;  The  historical  worth  of  the  Synoptics; 
The  Synoptics  not  of  equal  worth  in  all  parts;  The 
Gospel  of  Mark  the  oldest  and  the  most  reliable; 
Mark  a  source  for  Matthew  and  Luke;  The  Say- 
ings of  the  Lord 1 

II.  A  SKETCH  OF  THE  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF 
JESUS: 

The  narratives  of  the  birth  of  Jesus  are  legends,  not 
history;  Jesus  the  Son  of  Joseph;  Origin  of  the  leg- 
end of  the  virgin  birth;  The  twelve-year-old  Jesus 
in  the  temple;  Reliable  preliminary  history;  John, 
the  Baptist;  The  preaching  of  John  concerning  "the 
kingdom  of  God"  and  concerning  the  "Messiah"; 
The  baptism  of  Jesus  by  John;  The  call  of  Jesus; 
Temptation;  The  public  entrance;  The  Miracles 
of  Jesus;  The  little  daughter  of  Jairus;  A  growing 
success;  Incipient  opposition;  The  alternative; 
Jesus  the  Messiah;  The  crisis;  Thoughts  of  the 
death-offering;  The  hope  of  the  return;  The  catas- 
trophe; "Resurrection" 15 

III.  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS: 

Jesus' preaching  of  the  "kingdom  of  God";  His  preach- 
ing of  the  kingdom  a  framework  for  an  entirely  new 
spiritual  content;  purification  of  the  ethical  con- 
science; The  new  piety;  The  new  righteousness; 
The  Eternal  Gospel;  The  relation  of  the  frame- 
work and  the  content  of  the  preaching  of  Jesus;  A 
final  and  valid  redemption;  The  internal  kingdom 
of  God;  Jesus  the  ascete?  The  character  of  Jesus; 
our  Lord 51 

IV.  A  CLOSING   WORD SO  S 


"In  recent  books  on  logic,  distinction  is  made  between  two 
orders  of  inquiry  concerning  anything.  First,  what  is  the  nature 
of  it?  How  did  it  come  about?  What  is  its  constitution,  origin 
and  history?  And,  second,  what  is  its  importance,  meaning,  or 
significance,  now  that  it  is  once  here?  Thp  answer  to  the  one  ques- 
tion is  given  in  an  existential  judgment  or  proposition.  The  answer 
to  the  other  is  a  proposition  of  value,  what  the  Germans  call  a 
werthurtheil ',  or  what  we  may,  if  we  like,  denominate  a  spiritual 
judgment.  What  is  called  the  higher  criticism  of  the  Bible  is 
only  a  study  of  the  Bible  from  this  existential  point  of  view, 
neglected  too  much  by  the  earlier  church." 

Prof.  William  James,  LL,  D. 

"But,  as  a  rule,  English  work  [in  contrast  to  the  German]  of 
the  last  twenty  years  has  been  neutral  or  defensive.  I  fully  believe 
that  this  period  not  only  is  coming,  but  has  come  to  an  end.  There 
is  evidence  around  us  on  many  sides  that  a  new  spirit  is  abroad. 
When  a  German  scholar  sets  himself  a  particular  thesis,  his  first 
step  is  to  get  to  know,  as  nearly  as  he  can,  all  that  has  been  written 
about  it.  In  this  way  every  step  is  based  upon  previous  steps, 
and  the  continuity  of  research  is  never  broken." 

Prof.  William  Sanday,  D.  D.  LL.  D.,  Litt.  D. 

"He  who  studies  the  Bible,  not  as  a  partisan,  but  as  a  scholar, 
in  the  same  spirit  that  the  historian  studies  Greek  and  Roman 
literature,  finds  the  Bibliral  books  invaluable,  for  they  are  the 
precious  documents  of  the  religious  evolution  of  mankind.  Such 
men  as  Goethe,  Humboldt  and  Huxley,  the  great  pagans  of  modern 
times,  had  only  words  of  praise  for  the  Bible.  They  found  in  it  an 
inexhaustible  source  of  wisdom  and  poetry." 

Da.  Paul  Cabus. 


THE   HISTORICAL    SOURCES   FOR   THE 
LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

I  am  to  speak  to  you  of  the  life  and  ministry 
of  Jesus,  according  to  the  historical  and  sci- 
entific conception.  The  first  question,  then,  is : 
Whence  do  we  derive  our  knowledge  of  the 
person,  of  the  ministry,  and  of  the  life  of 
Jesus?    What  are  the  sources  of  the  history? 

Substantially  the  only  sources  are  the  Scrip- 
tures of  the  New  Testament.  The  New  Testa- 
ment is  not  a  single  book;  it  is  almost  a  small 
library  of  books  and  booklets,  which  were  com- 
posed at  different  times,  by  different  authors, 
and  with  very  different  contents  and  purposes. 
The  Church  gathered  them  in  the  course  of  its 
first  centuries.  It  was  convinced  that  in  them 
it  possessed  products  of  its  classical  period, 
namely,  the  Apostolic  age,  and  also  trustworthy 
memoirs  and  authentic  records  of  its  origin. 
This  collection  was  made  not  without  great 
caution,  and  not  without  historical  sense  and 

(i) 


1'  1.1  IE   AND    MINISTRY   OF   JESUS. 

admirable  tact.  It  chose  from  a  great  number 
of  less  worthy  and  uncertain  materials  those 
which,  for  ethical  and  religious  reasons,  stood 
the  highest,  and  which  had  pre-eminently  the 
greatest  claim  to  genuineness,  that  is,  Apostolic 
or  primitive  origin,  and  to  authentic  narration. 
But  in  spite  of  this,  a  more  searching  and  his- 
torical investigation  could  not  rest  satisfied 
with  this  verdict ;  we  must  revise  it  more  thor- 
oughly, applying  to  it  the  most  modern  methods 
of  research  known  to  historical,  religious,  and 
linguistic  criticism.  Accordingly  the  New  Tes- 
tament as  a  whole,  the  Gospels  and  the  Apos- 
tolic writings,  have  been  subjected  anew,  book 
by  book,  to  the  severest  and  the  most  scrutiniz- 
ing examination.  This  led  to  many  changes  in 
our  judgment.  Positions  which  had  for  centuries 
been  regarded  as  certain  and  incontestable 
began  to  shift,  became  precarious,  and  proved 
to  be  untenable  or  uncertain.  Innumerable 
questions  were  proposed  and  a  chaos  of  answers 
follows.  Everything  was  in  a  state  of  fermen- 
tation. Gradually,  however,  order  and  peace 
were  again  restored.  Results  of  an  assured 
character  were  brought  to  light,  and  a  firm 
foundation  was  disclosed  for  further  building. 
But  amid  all  the  storms  of  critical  discussion, 
the  four  great  epistles  of  Paul,  Galatians,  I 
and  II  Corinthians,  and  Romans,  proved  to  be 


HISTORICAL.   SOURCES.  6 

indisputable.  Scientific  criticism  today  is 
agreed  to  all  intents  and  purposes  upon  the 
question  of  the  integrity  of  these  epistles.  They 
purport  to  be  and  stand  forth  as  the  work  of 
the  Apostle;  a  man  who  was  a  member  of  the 
Apostolic  circle,  and  who  wrote  them  about 
twenty  years  after  the  Master's  death. 

Certainly  these  letters  do  not  signify  much 
for  our  present  purpose.  They  are  far  from 
being  descriptions  of  the  life  and  the  ministry 
of  Jesus;  they  are  pamphlets  written  for  other 
purposes,  filled  with  instructions,  consolations, 
admonitions,  and  personal  affairs.  The  refer- 
ences which  they  make  to  the  life,  the  words, 
and  the  actions  of  Jesus  are  merely  incidental ; 
but  they  are  of  great  value  for  historical  sci- 
ence. They  give  with  certainty  the  frame  work 
and  the  most  general  features  of  the  life  and 
ministry  of  Jesus,  they  give  us  the  deepest 
foundation  for  the  historic  image  of  the  Savior. 

These  four  letters  being  genuine — and  they 
are  so — the  following  facts  are  incontestable: 
there  lived  at  one  time  a  person  by  the  name  of 
Jesus,  who,  unquestionably  possessed  the  high- 
est power  and  the  supremest  worth,  and  who  left 
a  most  lasting  impression  upon  a  community  of 
disciples.  We  know  in  detail,  that  he  was  a 
public  teacher  and  an  active  preacher;  that  he 
gathered  twelve  "disciples"   about  him;   that 


4  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

out  of  his  ministry  there  went  forth  a  commu- 
nity of  adherents  which  differed  from  Judaism ; 
that  he  claimed  to  be  the  Messiah ;  that  he  suc- 
cumbed to  and  was  crucified  by  the  hatred  of 
the  rulers  of  his  people  and  by  the  treachery 
of  one  of  his  disciples;  that  his  followers  be- 
lieved that  he  had  come  forth  from  the  dead 
and  that  he  would  return  in  the  immediate 
future.  Some  of  his  words  are  cited  and  it  is 
narrated  that,  prior  to  his  death,  he  had  cele- 
brated with  his  followers  what  is  known  as  the 
Lord's  Supper.  And  what  is  of  the  greatest 
significance  of  all,  these  Pauline  letters  give 
expression  to  a  piety  of  a  unique  warmth,  sin- 
cerity, and  power,  a  piety,  which  compared  with 
Judaism  bespeaks  most  unquestionably  a  higher 
grade  of  religion,  and  which,  disengaged  from 
its  theological,  speculative,  and  special  Pauline 
setting,  can  certainly  be  traced  back  to  the 
essential  content  and  character  of  the  preach- 
ing and  the  new  piety  of  Jesus  himself.  These 
Pauline  data  are,  as  stated,  only  very  general 
and  very  few;  but  they  suffice  to  give  us  a  de- 
tailed image  of  the  person  of  Jesus  and  of  his 
ministry.  But  to  have  these  critically  assured 
renders  them  invaluable;  they  give  a  general 
rule  by  which  to  guide  further  investigation, 
and  they  deliver  us  at  once  from  all  the  specu- 
lations and  phantasies  of  those  who  attempt  to 


HISTORICAL   SOURCES.  5 

dissolve  the  entire  life-image  of  Jesus  into 
vague  legends,  Indo-Brahmanic,  Buddhistic  and 
the  like. 

For  the  details  of  this  picture,  we  must  de- 
pend wholly  on  the  first  four  books  of  the  New 
Testament,  the  Gospels.  But  it  is  a  pity  that 
here  we  are  not  on  such  secure  ground  as  in 
the  four  great  Pauline  letters.  It  is  only  with 
great  labor  and  step  by  step  that  investigation 
proceeds  here,  and  separates  by  slow  work 
the  reliable  and  authentic  narrative  from  the 
unreliable  and  the  unauthentic,  the  historic 
from  the  unhistoric.  To  trace  this  process  here 
in  all  its  several  steps  is  impossible.  But  we 
wish  to  sketch  in  general  outline  at  least,  this 
laborious  restoration  of  historic  truth. 

First,  we  recognize  discrepancies  in  the  nar- 
ration and  general  character  of  the  several 
Gospels,  and  we  ask  where  clear,  original,  his- 
toric tradition  is  to  be  found,  and  where  not.  A 
most  remarkable  contrast  exists  between  the 
first  three  Gospels  on  the  one  side,  and  the  Gos- 
pel of  John  on  the  other.  Even  Matthew,  Mark, 
and  Luke  differ  from  one  another  in  many  re- 
spects, although  manifesting  a  striking  agree- 
ment in  essentials.  The  historical  material  as 
a  whole,  the  capital  stock,  so  to  speak,  is  alike 
in  the  three.  The  thread  of  the  narrative  as 
well  as  the  entire  sketch  of  the  life  of  Jesus  is 


6  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

also  alike  in  them;  it  is  simple,  naively  child- 
like, without  reflection,  without  art,  and  with- 
out any  design.  The  entire  horizon,  the  gen- 
eral religious  conceptions,  and  the  theological 
apparatus,  so  to  speak,  are  also  alike. 

But  when  we  pass  to  the  Fourth  Gospel  all 
this  undergoes  a  remarkable  change.  The  dif- 
ference between  the  discourses  in  the  Synop- 
tics and  the  discourses  in  the  Fourth  Gospel 
manifests  itself  everywhere.  The  Synoptics 
are  characterized  by  short,  pithy,  and  precise 
expressions,  reaching  the  hearts  and  con- 
sciences of  the  hearers  and  leaving  an  indelible 
impression  upon  them;  or  by  picturesque,  ani- 
mating parables,  incomparable  for  their  sim- 
plicity and  directness.  John  is  altogether  dif- 
ferent: the  speeches  are  long,  solemn,  deep, 
difficult,  abstract,  ofttimes  undecided,  studiedly 
ambiguous  by  reason  of  the  profundity  of  ex- 
pression, poor  in  images,  partial  to  allegories, 
but  seldom  forming  genuinely  plastic  parables. 
The  expression  on  the  whole  is  more  like  that 
of  a  solemn  school-master  than  that  of  a  great 
and  irresistible  national  preacher.  Moreover, 
the  change  in  the  theology  of  the  authors  strikes 
one  immediately.  The  Synoptics  are  naively 
and  popularly  simple ;  the  Gospel  of  John  emu- 
lates the  higher  speculation.  The  author  of  the 
Fourth  Gospel  is  acquainted  with  the  philoso- 


HISTORICAL   SOURCES.  / 

phy  of  his  time.  His  Christianity  has  not,  for 
this  reason,  become  a  philosophy,  but  it  is  no 
longer  expounded  with  the  simplicity  character- 
istic of  its  three  predecessors ;  it  appears  rather 
in  the  garb  of  philosophic  expression.  The  be- 
ginning of  his  Gospel  shows  us  this  at  once  by 
its  application  of  the  leading  concept  of  the 
Alexandrian  philosophy  to  the  person  of  Christ ; 
the  concept  of  the  "Logos,"  the  Eternal  Word, 
that  is,  the  reason  dwelling  within  God,  which 
was  before  all  time,  and  by  which  all  things 
were  made.  The  author's  aim  was  to  make  it 
intelligible  to  his  age  that  God  had  revealed 
himself  in  Jesus ;  and  it  was  on  this  view  as  a 
foundation,  that  he  built  his  Gospel.  Further- 
more, the  image  of  the  Christ  life  in  the  Fourth 
Gospel  differs  greatly  from  that  of  the  Synop- 
tics. We  have  already  suggested  that  he  was 
more  solemnly  pathetic  here  than  elsewhere ;  we 
must  now  add  that  the  clear  and  most  decisive 
individuality  of  Jesus,  with  its  definite  tempera- 
ment and  nature,  is  hardly  present  in  the 
Fourth  Gospel;  the  idea  dominates  the  whole. 
It  is  true  of  the  personality  of  Jesus  as  of 
the  historic  matter  in  general,  that  the  nar- 
rative, which  in  the  Synoptics  is  so  vivid  and 
animating  as  to  bring  us  the  very  atmosphere 
and  coloring  of  the  historical  situation,  serves 
here  simply  to  fill  in  the  frame  work  of  thought. 


8  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

It  is  freely  handled,  shifted,  and  even  inverted ; 
its  chief  aim  is  to  become  a  transparent  veil 
for  a  profound  idea.  Closely  connected  with 
this  is  the  way  in  which  this  Gospel  lifts  the 
form  of  Jesus  wholly  into  the  sphere  of  the 
miraculous  and  the  absolutely  superhuman. 
Certainly  this  tendency  amply  and  powerfully 
attests  its  presence  in  the  Synoptics,  but  there 
we  can  trace  its  progress.  Its  historical  roots 
ever  look  out  upon  us,  and  the  form  of  the 
miracle  worker  has  not  been  lifted,  for  so  long 
a  time,  so  completely  into  the  realms  of  the 
supernatural.  His  miracle-working  power  meets 
difficulties,  submits  to  necessary  conditions,  and 
there  are  instances  where  he  is  unable  to  per- 
form the  miracle.  He  is  not  able  to  do  all 
things ;  he  is  neither  all-powerful  nor  all-know- 
ing. He  confesses  his  ignorance  of  the  times 
of  the  kingdom;  and  he  confesses  it  peacefully, 
calling  forth  no  surprise  on  the  part  of  his 
disciples,  because  on  the  whole  he  remains 
within  the  confines  of  the  human  and  so  to  speak 
of  the  human  faculty.  It  is  otherwise  in  the 
Fourth  Gospel ;  the  Logos  background  on  which 
the  picture  of  the  Christ  is  sketched  gleams 
through  everywhere.  He  is  above  all  opposi- 
tion and  conditions  here;  he  sees  through  men 
and  things  without  difficulty.  He  undertakes 
exceptional  things  without  any  trouble,  changes 


HISTORICAL   SOURCES.  \) 

water  into  wine,  and  awakens  Lazarus  who  had 
already  been  three  days  in  the  grave  and  with 
whom,  therefore,  the  process  of  decomposition 
had  already  begun. 

Thus  and  in  various  other  ways,  the 
Fourth  Gospel  differs  from  the  Synoptics. 
And  more  than  this  the  whole  argument 
serves  to  show  that  the  Synoptic  accounts 
are,  for  the  most  part,  very  close  to  historical 
reality,  whereas  the  Gospel  of  John  is  very  re- 
mote from  it.  The  aim  of  the  historical  portion 
is  to  be  the  allegory  of  the  idea.  Certainly 
these  ideas  belong  to  the  highest  and  the  most 
significant  in  the  New  Testament.  And  indeed 
they  are  genuine  Christian  treasures,  spirit  of 
the  spirit  of  the  Christ.  Moreover  this  accounts 
for  the  special  value  set  upon  the  Fourth  Gos- 
pel by  the  Church.  For  this  reason  also  it 
will  ever  continue  as  one  of  the  Church's  eter- 
nal and  invaluable  possessions.  But  it  is  evi- 
dent that,  when  we  seek  after  reliable  sources 
for  the  history  of  Jesus,  this  Gospel  is  to  be 
excluded  for  the  same  reason,  and  that  we  are 
first  of  all  to  confine  ourselves  rather  exclu- 
sively to  the  Synoptics.  Here  too  we  get  in 
abundance  what  is  missing  in  the  Gospel  of 
John:  plain  historical  reminiscence.  It  is  al- 
most astonishing  how  clear  and  how  true  the 
historical  situation  has   been   preserved;  indi- 


10  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

vidua!  things,  attendant  circumstances,  and 
even  small  details  are  brought  to  our  notice, 
which  never  could  have  been  invented.  Those 
factors  had  long  been  active  here  to  which,  in 
particular,  D.  F.  Strauss  directed  the  atten- 
tion of  the  world;  the  unconscious  and  unde- 
signed invention  and  unfolding  of  the  legend, 
the  tendency  to  exaggeration  and  development 
into  the  miraculous,  the  injection  of  Old  Testa- 
ment and  Judaic  representations  and  ideals,  ac- 
cording to  which  the  narrative  imperceptibly 
formed  itself.  Indeed  entire  portions  of  the 
Synoptics  themselves  are  legendary,  and  there 
is  many  a  real  and  historic  event  touched  by 
the  same  tendency.  But  the  authenticity  of 
large  portions  of  them  is  above  suspicion.  And 
with  a  little  trouble,  the  historically  and  theo- 
logically disciplined  critic — although  not  every 
amateur — can  separate  (not  perhaps  in  all  cases 
with  absolute  certainty)  the  historic  from  the 
unhistoric  or  the  half-historic.  And  this  is  true 
in  ever-widening  certainty  where  the  cases  are 
most  important  and  decisive  and  where  the 
image  of  Jesus  and  his  ministry  as  a  whole  are 
concerned. 

Having  excluded  the  Fourth  Gospel  as  a 
source  of  history,  criticism  proceeds  to  separate 
the  reliable  from  the  less  reliable  within  the 
Synoptics.     Even  an  amateur  may  with  some 


HISTORICAL    SOURCES.  11 

attention  distinguish  Mark  as  the  Synoptic  Gos- 
pel which  stands  nearest  the  reality  of  history. 
As  the  Synoptics  are  simpler  than  John,  so  the 
Gospel  of  Mark  is  simpler  than  its  companions, 
Matthew  and  Luke.  Where  Mark  is  clear,  di- 
rect, and  simple,  evincing  traces  of  the  histori- 
cal situation,  Matthew  and  Luke  treating  the 
same  matter  are  circuitous,  embodying  adapted 
traditions,  scribal  changes,  condensation  and 
simplifications.  Furthermore,  the  tendency  to 
the  miraculous  is  on  the  increase  from  Mark  to 
Matthew  and  Luke.  We  might  have  expected 
that  the  nearer  the  narrative  to  the  source  itself 
the  less  would  be  this  tendency;  whereas  the 
more  remote,  the  greater  it  would  be.  And  this 
corresponds  with  the  conditions  in  Mark,  Mat- 
thew, and  Luke.  As  a  slight  but  signal  instance 
of  this,  examine  the  accounts  of  the  baptism 
and  the  anointing  of  Jesus  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Mark  represents  it  with  tolerable  clearness  as 
an  inner  "visionary"  experience  of  Jesus.  It 
says,  "he  saw  the  heavens  open."  Matthew 
however  has  already  externalized  the  event.  He 
describes  it  thus,  "And  lo  the  heavens  were 
opened."  Not  satisfied  with  saying  that  the 
Spirit  of  God  descended  in  the  form  of  a  dove, 
Luke  assures  us  that  "the  Holy  Spirit  de- 
scended in  bodily  form."  The  very  same  ten- 
dency reveals   itself  largely    in    the    gradual 


12  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

growth  of  the  legendary  matter  at  the  com- 
mencement and  at  the  close  of  the  three  Gos- 
pels in  the  narratives  of  the  birth  and  the  resur- 
rection. Mark's  account  of  this  event  at  the 
close  of  his  Gospel,  is  very  short:  the  weeping 
women  at  the  tomb  were  commanded  by  an 
angel  to  go  to  Galilee,  where  they  should  see 
the  risen  one.  Matthew  already  shows  an  ex- 
tended growth  of  the  miraculous  element.  It 
is  related  that  the  angel  descended,  rolled  away 
the  stone,  sat  thereon,  and  that  "his  counte- 
nance was  like  lightning,  and  his  raiment  white 
as  snow."  Already  the  disciples  themselves  as 
well  as  the  women  go  to  the  grave,  see  the  risen 
one,  and  receive  instructions  from  him  to  go 
to  Galilee.  It  is  also  added  that  he  appeared 
to  them  there.  Luke  tells  us  that  there  were 
two  angels  at  the  grave,  that  Jesus  appeared 
to  the  assembly  within  closed  doors,  that  he 
permitted  himself  to  be  touched,  and  that  he 
ate  in  their  presence.  Luke  adds  the  ascension 
also  to  this  account  of  the  crucifixion.  The 
same  thing  is  true  of  the  legendary  birth  stories 
and  the  introductory  history.  Luke  gives  us 
the  legend  in  its  more  developed  form;  Matthew 
in  a  less  developed  form ;  whereas  Mark  shows 
no  traces  of  it. 

The  Gospel  according  to  Mark  thus  evinces 
itself  from  every  standpoint  to  be  the  oldest 


HISTORICAL    SOURCES.  13 

and  the  first  Gospel.  And  not  only  this;  the 
two  other  Gospels,  Matthew  and  Luke  are  not 
only  younger  than  Mark  and  dependent  upon 
it  in  their  narration,  but  they  include  it  within 
their  own  pages.  This  can  be  easily  shown 
with  regard  to  Matthew.  We  can  duplicate  en- 
tire passages  in  Matthew  which  have  been  taken 
almost  literally  from  Mark.  Truly  these  por- 
tions have  been  redacted,  slightly  changed  and 
somewhat  impaired  by  being  worked  over  with 
other  traditional  matter;  but  we  can  easily  de- 
tect Mark  as  one  source  of  Matthew. 

If  we  thus  disengage  the  Gospel  of  Mark 
from  Matthew,  a  second  surprising  and  beauti- 
ful result  comes  to  light.  What  remains  of 
Matthew — that  is,  apart  from  the  birth  and 
resurrection  narratives,  which  do  not  belong  to 
it — forms  a  second  ancient  source,  itself  a  small 
book.  This  is  probably  still  older  than  Mark, 
and  while  Mark  gives  itself  chiefly  to  the  nar- 
ration of  events,  it  devotes  itself  almost  entirely 
to  the  "Sayings  of  the  Lord,"  parables,  sen- 
tences and  longer  expressions  joined  together 
like  a  necklace  of  pearls,  of  which  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount  is  an  example.  No  doubt  we  have 
here  preserved  the  most  genuine  portion  of  all 
the  trustworthy  tradition,  which  was  doubtless 
once  a  little  book  by  itself.  Some  later  person 
interwove  it  with  the  Gospel  of  Mark,  which  had 


14  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

been  written  in  the  meanwhile,  adding  also  the 
legends  which  had  become  public  property,  and 
thus  Matthew  was  written. 

After  Matthew,  Luke  was  written.  The 
first  verse  of  this  Gospel  attests  the  lateness  of 
its  composition.  The  time  of  the  "original  eye- 
witnesses" had  long  passed  away.  It  drew  its 
materials  from  tradition,  oral  and  written. 
Legendary  matter  has  a  large  place  in  its  pages. 
Already  individual  "apocryphal"  traits  mani- 
fest themselves.  Still  this  ranks  in  feeling  with 
the  best  of  traditions.  Its  chief  sources  are 
Mark  and  the  Lord's  Sayings.  And  there  is 
much  matter  that  streams  in  from  other  sides, 
matter  which  is  easily  recognized  as  true  gold ; 
as,  for  instance,  the  group  of  beautiful  parables 
peculiar  to  Luke. 


A  SKETCH  OF  THE  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY 
OF  JESUS. 

Having  thus  properly  although  meagerly  re- 
lated ourselves  to  the  "sources  of  the  history" 
of  Jesus,  we  are  now  prepared  to  trace  their 
image  of  His  Life  and  His  Ministry. 


The  Gospel  of  Mark  begins  very  plainly  with 
the  superscription:  "Beginning  of  the  Gos- 
pel of  Jesus  Christ,"  and  forthwith  proceeds 
to  describe  the  appearance  of  John  the  Bap- 
tist and  the  baptism  of  Jesus  in  the  Jordan. 
This  indeed  is  the  commencement  of  the  reli- 
able history  of  Jesus.  The  portions  of  Matthew 
and  Luke,  which  treat  of  the  preceding  years, 
the  years  covering  the  prenatal,  the  natal,  and 
the  immediately  postnatal  circumstances,  be- 
long, according  to  the  historical  and  critical 
method,  to  the  beautiful  frame  work  with  which 

(15) 


16  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

legend  is  accustomed  to  embellish  historical  re- 
ality.* 

The  preliminary  history  is  full  of  the  most 
tender  and  beautiful  legends:  the  sending  of 
the  archangel,  "the  angelic  greeting,"  the  jour- 
ney to  Bethlehem,  the  shepherds  in  the  field, 
the  angel  voices  proclaiming  "Fear  not!"  and 
"Glory  to  God  in  the  highest!"  the  babe  in 
the  manger,  the  allegiance  of  the  three  wise 
men  from  the  East,  the  leading  of  the  star  as 
of  some  heavenly  guide  that ' '  went  before  them, 
till  it  came  and  stood  over  where  the  young 
child  was,"  the  greeting  given  to  the  new-born 
child  by  Simeon  and  Anna  in  the  temple,  Mary's 
visit  to  Elizabeth,  Herod's  anger,  and  the  flight 
to  Egypt.  Now  this  is  poetic  legend  from  be- 
ginning to  end,  but  even  as  such  it  towers  far 
above  the  confused  and  senseless  fables  of  later 
apocryphal  evangelical  literature  and  forms  an 
excellent  frame  work  to  the  historical  image  of 

*"The  senseless  confusion  of  'legend'  with  'lying'  has 
caused  good  people  to  hesitate  to  concede  that  there  are 
legends  in  the  Old  Testament.  But  legends  are  not  lies;  on 
the  contrary,  they  are  a  particular  form  of  poetry 

Now,  since  legend  and  history  are  very  different  in  both 
origin  and  nature,  there  are  many  criteria  by  which  they  may 
be  distinguished.  One  of  the  chief  points  of  difference  is 
that  legend  is  chiefly  oral  tradition,  while  history  is  usually 
found  in  written  form;  this  is  inherent  in  the  nature  of  the 
two  species,  legend  being  the  tradition  of  those  who  are  not 
in  the  habit  of  writing,  while  history,  which  is  a  sort  of 
scientific  activity,  presupposes  writing."  See  pages  3  and  4 
of  Dr. Hermann  Gunkel's  Legends  of  Genesis,  translated  by  Dr. 
Carruth  (Chicago  Open  Court  Pub.  Co.,  1901)— Trans. 


SKETCH    OF   LIFE    AND    MINISTRY.  17 

the  Christ.  And  no  one  will  permit  himself,  or 
willingly  be  the  cause  of  permitting  others,  to 
be  deprived  of  hearing  again  and  again  these 
beautiful  narratives  of  the  Advent  and 
Christmastide.  But  this  does  not  remove 
the  duty  of  distinguishing  between  legend 
and  history,  and  of  teaching  others  who 
are  entrusted  to  us  to  make  this  dis- 
tinction. The  task  may  appear  a  difficult 
one,  but  it  is  unavoidable  and  it  is  possible. 
A  very  large  circle  of  readers  have  already 
grasped  the  distinction  between  the  authority 
and  the  worth  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  religious 
and  the  ethical  realm  and  the  same  authority 
in  the  physical  and  geographical  realm.  The 
geocentric  character  of  much  of  our  Biblical 
teaching  has  not  discredited  them  as  the  instru- 
ments of  spiritual  culture.  The  discernment  of 
the  distinction  between  "holy  saga"  and  "holy 
history"  in  Bible  story  is  destined  to  run  a 
similar  course.  And  if  this  is  permitted  to 
come  to  pass  at  the  proper  time,  it  will  not 
disturb  the  high  position  which  these  writings 
hold  at  present ;  indeed  it  will  in  many  instances 
establish  or,  we  may  say,  re-establish  faith.  It 
is  inevitable  that  the  concepts  "holy  saga"  and 
"holy  history,"  which  are  recognized  today  in 
all  up-to-date  theology,  should  also  enter  into 
the  domain  of  religious. instruction. 


18  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

But  it  may  be  asked:  will  the  recognition 
of  the  introductory  part  of  the  life  as  legendary 
destroy  any  of  the  significance  of  the  Christ- 
mas festival  ?  By  no  means.  Mature  Christians 
already  realize  that  the  angel  voices  and  the 
frame  work  of  miracle  are  not  the  chief  things ; 
they  know  that  these  are  mere  decorations.  The 
holiday  really  celebrates  the  birth  of  Christ; 
and  this  will  remain  equally  sacred  and  equally 
worthy  of  celebration  even  after  this  distinction 
has  been  generally  accepted ;  it  will  remain  just 
as  if  no  legend  had  ever  gathered  about  the 
original  fact. 

That  one  is  really  occupied  with  legends  and 
not  with  history  in  this  part  of  the  story  is  evi- 
dent at  once  to  all  who  have  any  skill  in  dis- 
tinguishing between  the  history  of  religion  and 
the  formation  of  legend.  But  even  the  remain- 
ing parts  of  the  New  Testament  do  not  seem 
to  regard  the  birth  stories  as  genuine  history; 
Paul  knows  nothing  of  them,  nor  does  Mark 
pay  any  attention  to  them.  The  silence  of  the 
Johannean  Gospel  is  instructive  on  these  mat- 
ters; the  more  so  when  we  remember  that 
Matthew  and  Luke  had  been  completed  a  long 
time  before  and  had  become  the  common  pos- 
session of  a  large  circle,  and  that  the  dogma 
of  the  virgin  birth  was  already  in  general  fa- 
vor.    Now  this  Gospel  grasps  at  the  highest 


SKETCH    OF    LIFE    AND    MINISTRY.  19 

conceptions  and  expressions,  at  the  conception 
of  the  incarnation  of  the  Eternal  Logos,  to  il- 
lustrate and  to  lay  firmly  the  foundation  of  the 
uniqueness  and  the  significance  of  Jesus;  and 
yet  it  makes  no  reference  to  the  virgin  birth 
nor  to  any  other  singularity  of  the  child  legend. 
This  looks  like  a  deliberate  rejection  of  these 
conceptions,  which  he  perhaps  must  have 
thought  all  too  primitive  and  anthropomorphic 
to  explain  his  Logos  Christ. 

Properly  to  appreciate  this  subject  one  can 
hardly  do  better  than  to  follow  the  gradual 
growth  of  the  legendary  matter  from  Matthew 
to  Luke.  Matthew  represents  the  legend  in 
the  stage  of  formation,  the  simpler  form ;  noth- 
ing more  than  that  Joseph  is  told  in  a  dream 
that  the  child  to  be  born  was  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Luke  gives  a  more  developed  account;  relates 
the  sending  of  the  angel  Gabriel  to  the  virgin, 
her  meekness,  and  their  conversation.  One  can 
almost  see  the  legend  growing  as  it  passes  from 
mouth  to  mouth;  and  this  was  not  confined  to 
the  introductory  history  of  the  Messiah  alone, 
it  was  also  applied  to  the  early  history  of  John 
the  Baptist.  The  parallel  is  almost  complete, 
covering  the  pre-natal  visitation  and  the  signs 
that  followed  it.  But  the  strongest  New  Testa- 
ment proof  of  the  legendary  character  of  the 
birth  narrative  is  the  conduct  of  the  mother  and 


20  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

the  relatives  of  Jesus  at  his  public  appearance. 
They  do  not  understand  him;  they  know  noth- 
ing of  his  higher  nature ;  they  hinder  him,  con- 
tinue incredulous,  and  wish  him  to  return  home 
even  after  he  has  commenced  his  work.  They 
are  not  amenable  to  his  teaching,  proclaiming 
him  to  be  beside  himself.  But  Jesus  renounces 
them,  proclaiming  his  followers  to  be  his  breth- 
ren. This  would  have  been  altogether  im- 
possible, if  only  a  part  of  the  introductory  his- 
tory had  really  happened. 

For  historical  and  critical  science,  Jesus  is 
the  son  of  Joseph.  He  was  known  by  this  name 
in  Nazareth,  and  it  was  the  original  conception 
of  him.  This  is  almost  naively  set  forth  in  the 
two  genealogies,  purporting  to  be  the  proof  of 
his  Davidic  descent.  But  both  registers  trace 
the  line  to  Joseph ;  a  fact  which  clearly  presup- 
poses Jesus  to  be  the  son  of  Joseph.  Indeed  it 
was  conjectured  a  long  time  ago  that  the  con- 
clusion of  the  register  must  have  read,  "But 
Joseph  begat  Jesus."  And  this  conjecture  re- 
ceived a  very  surprising  ratification  a  few  years 
ago,  when  a  Syrian  Gospel  manuscript,  the  old- 
est extant,  was  discovered  in  the  cloister  of 
Catherine  on  Sinai.  Now,  according  to  this 
text,  the  reading  in  Matthew  i.  16,  is  not  what 
we   have    today;    the    original    form    one    can 


SKETCH    OF   LIFE    AND   MINISTRY.  21 

plainly    detect    to    be:     "But    Joseph    begat 
Jesus."* 

The  question,  then,  today,  concerning  the 
narrative  of  the  birth  is  not:  "Is  it  history  or 
legend?"  but  "What  are  the  motives  that  led 
to  the  formation  of  the  legend?"  The  history 
of  religion  will  yet  have  to  clear  up  this  sub- 
ject. Meanwhile  we  may  indicate  the  answer 
in  the  light  of  present  thought.  It  is  a  common 
religious  phenomenon  that  the  founder  of  a  re- 
ligious community  is  exempted  more  and  more 
by  the  faith  of  his  followers  from  the  natural 
course  of  things,  and  that  his  appearance,  in 
particular,  is  attributed  to  superhuman  factors. 
Thus  there  are  parallels  elsewhere  to  the  birth 
legends  of  Jesus ;  the  cases  for  instance  of  Zoro- 
aster and  Plato.     The  most  signal,  however,  is 

*In  his  History  of  the  Christian  Church,  George  Park 
Fisher,  D.  D.,  LL.D.,  at  one  time  Titus  Street  Professor  of 
Ecclesiastical  History  in  Yale  University,  makes  the  following 
remarks  concerning  the  doctrine  of  the  immaculate  conception : 
"In  the  twelfth  century  the  doctrine  of  the  Virgin's  immacu- 
late conception  was  broached.  This  view  was  embraced  by 
the  Franciscans,  who  were  specially  zealous  in  rendering 
honor  to  Mary.  It  was  rejected  by  the  Dominicans,  and 
formed  a  standing  subject  of  controversy  down  to  a  recent 
date."     Page  226. 

Writing  of  Pius  IX,  in  connection  with  this  doctrine,  he 
says:  "In  1854,  he  gathered  a  large  company  of  ecclesiastics 
at  Rome,  and  promulgated  on  his  own  personal  responsibility, 
without  the  concurrence  of  any  council,  the  dogma  of  the 
immaculate  conception  of  the  Virgin.  He  thus  assumed 
to  decide  authoritatively  a  question  which  the  doctors  of  the 
Church  had  long  debated,  and  on  which  they  are  not  yet 
agreed."     Page  537. — Trans. 


22  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

that  of  Buddha.  He  also  had  no  human  father; 
was  born  amid  signs  and  wonders;  his  birth 
was  celebrated  by  heavenly  bands;  and  soon 
after  his  birth,  he  was  recognized  by  priests 
and  seers  as  the  coming  light.  The  parallel  is 
very  striking.  It  was  thought  that  the  re- 
semblances were  due  to  borrowing,  but  this  is 
a  mistake  for  no  trace  of  any  dependency  has 
ever  been  found.  On  the  contrary,  legends  of 
a  like  character  have  sprung  up  in  so  many  dif- 
ferent places  as  to  indicate  laws  and  motives 
common  to  them  all.  But  furthermore,  in  ad- 
dition to  what  it  has  in  common  with  phenom- 
ena of  its  class,  there  are  factors  in  the  Chris- 
tian legend,  which  help  to  determine  its  pres- 
ent form.  Strauss  was  correct  here.  The  Old 
Testament  patriarchal  and  prophetic  narra- 
tives and  the  current  Judaic  representations  of 
the  Messiah,  which  were  powerful  factors  in 
the  Christian  community,  were  great  forces  in 
the  formation  of  the  legend.  The  dreams,  the 
visions,  the  angelic  predictions,  took  their  rise 
in  this  way.  Both  Isaac  and  Jacob  were  sons 
of  the  promise  and  the  peculiar  power  of  God. 
Likewise  Samuel.  Indeed  since  the  time  of 
Jeremiah,  it  was  the  general  view  that  the  mes- 
sengers of  God  were  chosen  and  predestined 
by  him  from  the  mother's  womb.  How  much 
more  must  this  have  been  the  case  with  the 


SKETCH    OF    LIFE    AND    MINISTER.  23 

Messiah?  He  was  regarded  as  a  semi-super- 
natural being,  and  it  was  the  most  natural  thing 
in  the  world  to  assume  that  his  advent  would 
not  conform  to  the  methods  of  nature.  Add  to 
this  that  Isaiah  vii.  14,  was  read  "Behold  a 
virgin  shall  conceive,  and  bear  a  son."  Indeed, 
Isaiah  was  not  thinking  of  the  Messiah  in  this 
passage,  but  it  was  referred  to  him.  Further- 
more the  original  is  not  "virgin,"  but 
"woman."  But  the  Greek  translation  and  the 
current  explanation  read  "virgin,"  as  we  see 
in  Matthew  i.  23.  Here,  undoubtedly,  under  the 
influence  of  this  misunderstood  passage  of 
Isaiah,  we  discover  the  main  origin  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  virgin  birth.  Apart  from  this,  the 
legend  would  perhaps  have  entered  the  same 
pathway  as  did  that  of  John  at  a  later  date. 

We  know  nothing  of  the  history  of  Jesus  be- 
fore his  public  appearance  save  the  temple  in- 
cident of  his  twelfth  year,  and  criticism  has 
at  times  contested  even  this,  but  without  suffi- 
cient reason.  The  incident  itself  is  not  neces- 
sarily miraculous  or  legendary.  The  boy  of 
twelve  in  the  orient  is  mature,  and  it  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at  that  his  future  religious  genius 
should  thus  early  and  prophetically  become 
manifest.  We  know  only  the  following  facts 
about  his  early  years:  that  he  was  the  son  of 
plain  parents;  that  he  sprang  from  Nazareth, 


24  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

a  small  Galilean  mountain  village,  known  to 
this  day  midway  between  the  Galilean  sea  and 
the  gulf  of  Haifa;  that  he  received  neither  a 
Grecian  nor  indeed  a  Rabbinical  culture, — noth- 
ing save  the  plain  "religious  instruction"  from 
the  holy  books  of  his  people ;  but  that  he  learned 
to  read  these  with  a  clearer  and  deeper  appre- 
ciation than  the  scholars  and  the  religious  spe- 
cialists of  his  time.  He  required  a  long  period 
for  his  mental  development,  for  the  maturing 
of  his  unique  religious  character,  and  for  the 
awakening  of  the  knowledge  of  his  higher  mis- 
sion. He  entered  upon  his  ministry  in  his 
thirtieth  year,  a  ripe  age  for  the  rajoidly  de- 
veloping oriental,  but  he  soon  manifested  the 
greatest  power,  leaving  behind  him  the  greatest 
effects.  He  was  at  first  far  from  entertaining 
the  project  of  a  world  mission  or  an  eternal  mis- 
sion. It  was  merely  a  local  and  a  temporary 
movement  like  the  movement  of  the  Baptist, 
which  certainly  was  the  occasion  of  the  appear- 
ance of  Jesus. 

What  then  was  the  design  of  the  Baptist? 
It  was  certainly  something  completely  local  and 
temporary.  The  Jewish  people  had  been  sub- 
ject for  centuries  to  the  oppression  of  changing 
dynasties.  But  the  stronger  the  oppression  the 
more  intense  grew  the  longing  for  the  interpo- 
sition of  God.    All  the  ancient  promises  of  the 


SKETCH    OF   LIFE    AND    MINISTRY.  25 

prophecies  of  the  past  concerning  the  final  mag- 
nificence of  Judah  and  Jerusalem  and  concern- 
ing the  overthrow  of  the  enemy  blazed  up  again. 
These  prophecies  were  indeed  originally  di- 
rected against  Assyria  and  Babylon;  but  they 
were  applied  spontaneously  to  the  new  condi- 
tion of  things;  and  new  promises  that  God 
would  in  the  near  future  take  compassion  upon 
his  people  were  added  to  them.  All  these  hopes, 
wishes  and  dreams  were  gathered  up  into  the 
thought  of  the  "kingdom  of  God,"  or  "the 
kingdom  of  heaven,"  which  was  supposed  to 
be  at  the  door  and  which  was  to  be  realized  in 
splendor  and  supernatural  glory  in  Judah. 
Imagination  ran  riot  with  this  thought;  and  its 
picture  which  continued  to  grow  in  color  and 
supernatural  proportions,  was  handed  on  from 
generation  to  generation,  now  as  an  object  of 
consolation  and  now  as  an  object  of  hope.  A 
complete  and  unique  literature  sprang  up  called 
"The  Revelations, "  depicting  the  coming  king- 
dom in  visions,  images  and  allegories,  some- 
times highly  poetic  and  sometimes  very  prosaic. 
But  with  this  thought  of  the  kingdom  of  God, 
the  ancient  Messianic  representation  broke  out 
powerfully  again.  Isaiah  had  prophesied  that, 
after  the  downfall  and  the  destruction  of  the 
nation  and  the  Davidic  kingdom,  this  latter 
would  be  re-established,  and  that  a  God-gifted 


26  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

scion  would  spring  from  its  root  as  a  hero  and 
a  ruler  to  build  anew  the  Jewish  nation.  This 
prophecy  had  not  been  fulfilled,  the  surviving 
family  had  not  accomplished  what  was  hoped  of 
it,  and  the  dynasty  itself  had  sunk  into  insig- 
nificance. But  the  hope  for  the  "anointed," 
the  expected  hero,  continued  from  generation 
to  generation.  It  grew  to  be  at  once  a  theo- 
logical concept  and  a  favorite  subject  of  the 
artistic  fancy.  The  image  broke  away  entirely 
from  its  historic,  Isaianic,  and  fundamental 
thought,  assuming  fantastic  and  superhuman 
features. 

But  this  hope  of  a  coming  kingdom  did  not 
exhaust  itself  in  the  production  of  mere  books 
and  pious  wishes.  It  broke  out  into  turbulent 
convulsions  and  movements  against  compulsory 
power,  it  brought  forth  Pseudo-Messiahs,  and  it 
won  for  itself  heralds  and  prophets.  John  was 
one  of  these.  He  also  announced  that  "the 
kingdom  was  at  hand,"  that  "the  axe  is  laid 
unto  the  root  of  the  trees/'  and  with  expectant 
eyes,  he  looked  for  "him  that  cometh 
after  me";  but  the  announcement  took  a 
different  character  with  him.  He  announced 
the  coming  of  the  kingdom,  but  did  not 
for  this  reason  urge  the  people  "to  take 
up  arms,"  as  the  agitators  and  reform- 
ers generally     had     done,     but     urged     them 


SKETCH    OF    LIFE    AND    MINISTRY.  27 

to  repentance.  For  him  the  kingdom  of  God 
was  to  be  realized  not  bv  the  power  of  man,  but 
by  the  miraculous  interposition  of  God.  He 
called  men  to  complete  resignation  and  abso- 
lute obedience  to  God.  The  old  prophetic  idea 
awoke  within  him :  ' '  God  comes  only  to  a  people 
of  pure  hands  and  pure  heart.  Only  those  of 
a  pure  heart  enter  this  kingdom. ' ' 

Breaking  away  thus  from  the  zealots,  the 
theocratic  agitators,  the  fanatics,  and  the  politi- 
cal aspirants,  he  became  a  great  preacher  of 
righteousness.  The  goal  of  all  his  activity  was 
repentance  from  sin,  complete  subjection  to  the 
divine  law,  severe  discipline,  and  fasting,  and 
he  baptized  them  in  the  Jordan  as  a  sign  of 
cleansing  and  purification.  He  wielded  an  im- 
mense power  over  his  contemporaries.  Multi- 
tudes streamed  to  hear  him,  and  a  band  of  dis- 
ciples formed  about  him.  Many  carried  the  an- 
nouncement of  the  approaching  kingdom  and 
the  need  of  repentance  from  him  to  their  own 
homes  and  circles. 

Now  Jesus  also  came  at  first  as  one  of  this 
class  and  being  taken  up  by  the  call  and  the 
preaching  of  John,  he  submitted  to  baptism  and 
departed  home  to  deliver,  as  it  seems,  the  same 
message:  "Kepent  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
is  at  hand."  But  it  soon  became  evident  that 
he  was  greater  than  John,  and  that  he  had  a 


28  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

better  Gospel  for  his  people.  But  we  shall  treat 
of  this  hereafter.  We  shall  first  of  all  follow 
the  sketch  of  his  life  to  the  end. 

Jesus  received  his  call,  his  higher  mission, 
in  an  event,  at  the  baptism.  According  to  Mat- 
thew and  Luke  this  was  external ;  according  to 
Mark,  which  gives  the  simpler  and  the  more 
intelligible  account,  it  was  internal.  It  hap- 
pened to  him  as  to  the  great  prophets  of  Is- 
rael, an  Isaiah  or  a  Jeremiah.  Isaiah  was  not 
a  self-constituted  prophet  and  messenger  of 
God.  He  was  called  and  almost  driven  against 
his  will  to  the  thorny  vocation  of  a  prophet  by 
a  spiritual  experience,  the  power  and  grandeur 
of  which  is  still  felt  in  the  mere  narrative.  In 
this  vision  he  saw  God  in  his  temple  sitting 
upon  a  high  throne,  heard  his  voice  and  the 
fearful  message  which  he  was  to  bring  to  Je- 
hovah's people.  It  was  thus  that  Jesus  saw  the 
heavens  opened  and  received  the  words  which 
made  him  what  he  was  at  the  opening  of  his 
ministry.  What  kind  of  experience  was  this? 
We  read  of  visions,  "of  visual  and  auditory 
hallucinations,"  and  we  forthwith  construct 
some  plausible  psychological  explanation  of 
them:  "Powerful  excitement  of  the  feelings, 
plastic  fancy,  excessive  nervousness."  But  do 
these  uncover  the  real  secret  of  the  matter? 
Do  they  explain  the  immediate  certainty  of  all 


SKETCH    OF    LIFE    AND    MINISTRY.  29 

prophetic  consciousness!  The  bed-rock  cer- 
tainty which  is  part  of  the  endowment,  and 
which  gives  its  bearers  iron  foreheads  against 
worlds  of  oppositions,  attacks,  and  impossibili- 
ties? A  certainty  that  errs  not  for  a  moment, 
even  where  all  seems  to  break  up  and  to  be  in 
vain;  not  where  disciples  prove  treacherous; 
not  indeed  in  the  bloody  sweat  of  Gethsemane? 
A  purely  positivistic  method  of  reading  history 
may  satisfy  itself  with  such  explanations;  but 
one  who  is  not  foresworn  will  think  otherwise. 
He  will  not  believe  that  the  heavens  opened  and 
that  the  spirit  descended  in  the  form  of  a  dove, 
or  that  Jehovah  appeared  bodily  with  a  train  of 
seraphs.  He  will  be  convinced  that  all  this  is 
the  objectivization  of  an  unnameable  inner  ex- 
perience, with  all  the  above  mentioned  concep- 
tions even  to  "hallucination"  playing  their 
part.  But  he  will  also  grant  to  this  subjective 
experience  its  mystery  and  its  reality. 

Before  Jesus  began  his  ministry  "he  was  led 
by  the  Spirit  into  the  wilderness  to  be  tempted 
of  the  devil."  There  is  no  mountain  from  which 
one  can  see  "all  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  and 
their  glory,"  nor  is  it  thinkable  that  the  young 
Nazarene  was  carried  through  the  air  and 
placed  upon  a  pinnacle  of  the  temple.  But  one 
can  easily  think  and  understand  that  before  en- 
tering upon  his  work,  Jesus  would  betake  him- 


30  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

self,  for  personal  reasons,  to  prayer  and  fast- 
ing in  the  wilderness — as  a  Paul  and  an  Elias 
did — and  that,  in  this  loneliness,  he  wonld  have 
to  choose  between  the  popular  and  the  political 
idea  of  the  Messiah,  which  he  must  have  known, 
and  the  spiritual  and  self-denying  ideal,  which 
he  carried  in  his  own  heart.  He  was  passing 
through  a  great  struggle:  Should  he  choose  the 
way  of  the  poor  preacher  and  fisher  of  men,  or 
should  he  choose  the  way  of  the  enthusiast,  the 
way  of  the  national  hero  ?  This  temptation  could 
not  be  avoided.  It  was  latent  in  the  spirit  and 
the  consciousness  of  the  age.  Jesus  conquered. 
What  Philippians  ii.  5-7,  affirms  respecting  the 
pre-existent  Christ,  proved  to  be  true  respect- 
ing the  Christ  of  history:  he  chose  the  way  of 
, humility  rather  than  the  way  of  the  "robber." 

He  began  his  ministry  on  the  shore  of  the 
Galilean  sea.  Its  leading  features  are  presented 
to  us  in  the  Gospels.  He  preached  in  the  syna- 
gogues, in  the  homes  of  his  friends,  on  all  kinds 
of  occasion,  at  the  table,  under  the  free  heavens, 
now  here  and  now  there.  His  calling  was  espe- 
cially extended  by  the  mysterious  gift  of  heal- 
ing that  had  been  awakened  within  him. 

What  was  this  mysterious  power?  We  have 
already  seen  that  the  Jesus  of  the  Synoptics 
is  not  the  absolute  wonder  worker  that  he  seems 
sometimes  to  be  in  John  or  in  the  traditional 


SKETCH    OF    LIFE    AND    MINISTRY.  31 

view.  But  even  in  those  parts  of  the  Gospels 
which  have  sustained  the  severest  criticism,  he 
stands  forth  possessing  something  inexplicable. 
This  is  true  of  his  gift  of  healing.  The  nar- 
ratives of  his  healing  ministry  evince  such  ver- 
ity as  to  exclude  even  the  thought  of  a  legendary 
origin.  Examine,  for  instance,  the  almost  busi- 
ness like  account  of  the  healing  of  Peter's  wife's 
mother,  Mark  i.  29-31,  or  the  realistic  account 
of  the  man  with  the  palsy,  or  the  cases  of  the 
nobleman  of  Capernaum  and  the  Canaanitish 
woman.  That  wonderful  dialectic  between  Jesus 
and  the  woman  in  which  he  at  first  opposes  her, 
but  then  grants  her  the  blessing,  is  worth  at- 
tending to.  Poetic  legend  does  not  grow  in  this 
way.  Add  to  this  that  we  meet  like  phenomena 
within  the  first  Christian  communities.  Were 
we  inclined  to  attack  the  Gospel  narratives  of 
the  healing  practised  by  Jesus  we  could  not  well 
deny  the  same  phenomena  in  Corinth,  in  Gala- 
tia,  and  in  Rome;  phenomena  which  happened 
in  the  broadest  light  of  history  and  of  historical 
attestation.  The  original  community  and  Paul 
were  clearly  convinced  that  they  possessed  the 
Charismata,  the  " gifts,"  among  themselves. 
A  formal  catalogue  of  them  is  given  in  1  Cor. 
xii.  4-11:  the  gift  of  tongues,  the  gift  of  pro- 
phetic power  (clairvoyance),  the  gift  of  heal- 
ing and  of  mighty  deeds  and  also  other  psy- 


32  LIFE  AND  MINISTKY  OF  JESUS. 

chical  powers.  But  one  may  well  remember  that 
he  added  something  that  has  greater  worth  than 
all  of  these  gifts,  namely,  the  simple  Christian 
virtues,  faith,  love,  and  hope,  and  that  the  great- 
est of  these  is  love.  But  this  evidently  presup- 
posed the  reality  and  the  presence  of  the  afore- 
mentioned gifts.  He  possessed  them  himself, 
and  exercised  them  repeatedly.  Indeed,  they 
appeared  in  all  the  communities.  One  may  go 
further,  there  is  certain  historical  evidence  that 
these  very  "gifts"  existed  far  beyond  the 
Apostolic  age.  And  there  is  similar  evidence 
that  an  analagous  class  of  gifts  were  found 
scattered  in  circles  not  Christian.  The  ques- 
tion may  be  asked:  will  this  mysterious  realm 
be  open  to  us  again?  To  return  a  negative  an- 
swer simply  because  it  does  not  accord  with  our 
ideas  of  "the  course  of  nature"  would  be  un- 
historic.  A  fair  and  candid  reading  of  the 
critically  sifted  portions  of  the  Gospels  cannot 
but  strengthen  the  impression  that  Jesus  pos- 
sessed this  power  or  these  powers  in  an  unusual 
degree.  Moreover  our  earlier  studies  of  the  pe- 
culiar parts  and  "natural  endowments"  of  the 
great  Old  Testament  prophets,  have  already 
given  us  a  key,  so  to  speak,  to  this  matter.  They 
were  not  omniscient;  they  did  not  possess  the 
ability  to  forecast  the  future  for  centuries;  but 
they  did  possess,  in  many  instances,  a  peculiar 


SKETCH    OF    LIFE    AND   MINISTRY.  33 

presentiment  and  divination  of  menacing  events 
of  an  extraordinary  character,  events  too  that 
soon  befell  them.  This  gift  then  appears  to 
us,  not  as  ''supernatural"  and  miraculous  in 
the  ancient  sense  of  that  term,  that  is,  as  some- 
thing completely  outside  of  the  analogy  of  cur- 
rent events;  on  the  contrary,  we  find  illustra- 
tions of  this  extraordinary  character  in  the 
phenomena  of  clairvoyance,  farsightedness,  the 
faculty  of  divination  of  particularly  gifted 
natures,  and  second  sight  and  the  like. 

Perhaps  Christ's  gift  of  healing  which  seems 
so  mysterious  to  us,  was  "only"  a  development 
of  capabilities  slumbering  in  human  nature  in 
general.  The  prime  instance  of  the  effective 
influence  of  a  psychical  agent  upon  a  physical 
reality,  is  the  power  of  the  will  to  move  the 
body :  a  spiritual  cause  producing  a  mechanical 
result.  This  is  an  absolute  mystery;  and  were 
it  not  so  common  it  would  still  be  recognized 
as  such.  But  who  will  undertake  to  exhaust 
a  priori  the  possibilities  of  such  a  realm?  Who 
will  define  what  a  will  may  accomplish  in  an 
unmediated  ministry,  a  will  in  full  control  of 
its  powers  and  in  deepest  sympathy  with  God? 
In  more  recent  times,  people  have  frequently 
endeavored  to  institute  a  parallel  between  the 
miracles  of  Jesus  and  the  newly  discovered  hyp- 
notic and  telepathic  methods  and  the  like.    And 


i!4  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

why  should  we  not  accept  it,  if  we  add  that  the 
works  of  Jesus  extend  far  beyond  the  sphere 
of  our  knowledge,  and  that  they  always  emanate 
from  the  consciousness  of  his  mission,  and  that 
whenever  they  incline  to  the  extraordinary  they 
do  so  by  reason  of  his  ethical  and  religious  con- 
sciousness and  his  continued  dependence  upon 
God?  And,  certainly,  if  he  was  capable  of  such 
extraordinary  things,  the  tendency  to  exaggera- 
tion and  invention  would  instantly  set  in,  and 
a  wise  caution  respecting  the  narrative  of  the 
miracles  would  not  only  be  in  place,  but  abso- 
lutely necessary.  That  Jesus  could  do  wonders 
is  not  sufficient  reason  for  accepting  everything 
accredited  to  him  by  tradition.  The  reanima- 
tion  of  Lazarus,  and  the  turning  of  water  into 
wine  depart  very  widely  from  that  which  is  con- 
ceivably and  historically  acceptable,  both  cases 
in  the  Gospel  of  John.  Even  the  Synoptics  con- 
tain enough  that  outrun  all  conceptual  possi- 
bility, such  as  walking  upon  the  sea,  and  the 
feeding  of  the  five  thousand  with  five  loaves  and 
two  fishes.  Eliminate  miracles  of  this  type, 
and  those  left  within  the  Synoptics  would  be- 
long almost  entirely  to  the  cases  of  healing, 
many  of  which  are  of  the  most  astonishing  char- 
acter. The  Synoptics,  indeed,  contain  the  nar- 
ratives of  two  reanimations,  the  little  daughter 
of  Jairus  and  the  son  of  the  widow  of  Nain. 


SKETCH    OF    LIFE    AND    MINISTRY.  35 

Criticism  is  inclined  to  turn  away  from  these, 
but  it  must  always  be  remembered  that  these 
narratives  differ  essentially  from  that  of  Laza- 
rus given  in  John.  The  little  daughter  of  Jairus 
had  not  been  three  days  in  the  grave,  as  Laza- 
rus had  been,  she  had  only  just  lost 
consciousness.  Where  lies  the  boundary  which 
divides  complete  death  from  the  last  and 
perhaps  unconscious  spark  of  life?  Had 
he  who  possessed  power  to  compose  a 
troubled  and  deranged  consciousness  the 
power  to  halt  a  spirit  upon  the  bound- 
ary line  or  mayhap  to  recall  the  same  into 
the  already  deserted  body?  The  narrative  is 
strikingly  concrete  at  this  point.  Even  the  Ara- 
maic words,  the  very  sounds  which  he  used  to 
awaken  the  child,  are  kept  for  us:  "Talitha 
Cumi."  All  theatrical  pomp  which  might  have 
accompanied  a  public  exhibition  is  absent.  Of 
the  disciples  only  the  most  trustworthy  are  ad- 
mitted, and  the  thing  concludes  with  the  com- 
monplace injunction  that  the  child  be  given 
something  to  eat  and  that  there  be  no  further 
mention  of  the  event.  Let  any  one  compare  the 
case  of  Lazarus  with  this.  Everything  is  so  ar- 
ranged as  to  create  an  impression.  The  solemn 
deed  is  done  before  all  people.  A  prayer,  which 
is  an  appeal  to  those  present,  accompanies  the 
deed.    The  whole  thing  is  done  "because  of  the 


36  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

people. ' '  Such  an  account  may  be  a  product  of 
art,  hardly  of  life.  The  accounts  of  Mark  are 
of  a  different  character.  A  considerate  criti- 
cism will  suspend  its  judgment. 

The  multitude  gradually  approached  the  new 
prophet.  He  led  them  to  the  mountain  or  to 
the  sea  shore,  seating  himself  at  times  in  a 
boat  close  by.  Out  of  the  multitudes  a  small 
community  formed  itself,  and  out  of  this  com- 
munity a  band  of  twelve  disciples,  called  to  be 
his  immediate  followers.  These  "followed  after 
him"  from  place  to  place,  as  did  the  followers 
of  other  masters;  as  the  prophets  and  their 
scholars,  and  the  rabbis  and  their  adherents. 
His  calling  led  him  out  beyond  the  boundaries 
of  Galilee  into  Judea,  into  the  East  of  the  land 
watered  by  the  Jordan,  and  even  into  Syro- 
Phoenicia.  Meanwhile  his  following  kept  grow- 
ing; thousands  accompanied  him.  Then  the 
joyful  hope  of  perhaps  winning  the  entire  na- 
tion grew  within  him ;  the  mission  of  the  twelve 
was  directed  to  this  end.  We  know  the  injunc- 
tions that  he  gave  them  for  their  first  mission- 
ary journey.  The  impressive  scene  of  their  re- 
turn is  also  depicted  for  us,  and  the  result  of 
their  labor.  We  are  further  told  of  the  great 
joy  of  Jesus,  a  joy  which  broke  out  into  open 
thanksgiving  to  the  Father.    This  is  related  so 


SKETCH    OF    LIFE    AND    MINISTEY.  61 

plainly  and  so  truthfully  that  one  cannot  help 
feeling  its  dewy  freshness. 

But  while  his  ministry  kept  growing,  oppo- 
sition and  enmity  sprang  up,  and  the  catastro- 
phe slowly  cast  its  shadows  before  it.  He 
preached  new  and  unheard  of  things;  things 
that  had  reference  to  the  law,  to  the  sabbaths, 
to  fastings,  to  Levitical  purity  and  impurity,  to 
righteousness  and  genuine  piety,  to  the  validity 
of  current  views,  customs,  and  holy  usages.  He 
called  forth  increasingly  the  resistance  and  the 
opposition  of  the  conservative  parties,  espe- 
cially the  scribes  and  the  pharisees.  Many  a 
hope  was  blasted.  Disillusionment,  lukewarm- 
ness,  and  withdrawal  became  more  frequent. 
The  cities  where  he  had  done  his  greatest  and 
most  impressive  works,  the  cities  which  he  had 
called  "his  own,"  became  listless  and  reaction- 
ary. He  was  constrained  to  proclaim  his  woes 
over  Chorazin  and  Bethsaida.  His  feeling  is 
revealed  in  the  parable  of  the  sower,  that  only 
a  few  bring  forth  fruit.  The  seed  of  the  word 
fares  variously;  it  falls  upon  the  wayside,  amid 
thorns  and  upon  stony  ground. 

At  this  time  and  perhaps  closely  connected 
with  it,  a  spirit  of  unrest  took  possession  of  him. 
Leaving  Capernaum  and  the  lake  and  continu- 
ing his  journey  as  far  as  Syro-Phoenicia,  he 
then  returned  and  wandered  about  the   same 


38  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

spot.  A  great  resolution  formed  and  matured 
itself  in  the  depth  of  his  soul.  He  must  bring 
to  a  decision  the  whole  question  between  God 
and  this  people.  The  nature  of  the  situation 
forced  him  to  this ;  the  stagnant,  the  stationary 
and,  in  most  cases,  the  reactionary  character 
of  the  work  rendered  it  imperative.  Was  the 
work  already  begun  to  be  frittered  away  and 
to  come  to  naught?  The  people  must  be  com- 
pelled to  accept  or  reject  the  message  in  accept- 
ing or  rejecting  the  messenger.  But  this  al- 
ternative must  be  brought  to  a  head  only  in  the 
center  of  the  nation,  in  Jerusalem. 

He  determined  to  go  up  with  his  followers 
to  Judea  and  to  Jerusalem,  and  in  a  solemn 
manner  to  declare  himself  the  Messiah  of  the 
nation,  thus  compelling  them  to  receive  or  re- 
ject him.  This  was  certainly  an  unprecedented 
undertaking.  The  terrible  issue,  the  catastro- 
phe, was  all  but  a  certainty.  Knowing  well  the 
extreme  hatred  of  the  Jews,  he  also  knew  Jeru- 
salem as  the  prophet-slaying  city.  He  divined 
the  result,  and  told  his  disciples  that  the  Son  of 
man  should  be  taken,  and  that  he  should  be  de- 
livered into  the  hands  of  the  heathen,  that  is, 
to  the  Roman  power.  His  soul  was  in  great 
anguish  yet  he  went  up  into  the  city.  He  went 
up  not  as  a  fanatic,  but  as  a  man  under  a  great 
moral  restraint ;  he  went  up  to  fulfil  a  great 


SKETCH    OF    LIFE    AND    MINISTRY.  39 

moral  duty.  He  was  following  the  moral  logic 
of  the  situation,  and  if  his  outlook  had  been 
still  worse  he  would  undoubtedly  have  met  the 
consequences  of  his  ministry.  And  when  out 
of  pure  sympathy  Peter  undertook  to  advise  a 
change,  he  answered  him  with  the  sharp,  cut- 
ting words:  "Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan,  for 
thou  art  an  hindrance  to  me."  Here  he  recog- 
nized the  tempter's  voice  and  conducted  him- 
self towards  him  as  he  had  done  in  the  wilder- 
ness. 

He  wished  to  declare  himself  the  Messiah. 
There  was  something  peculiar  about  his  Mes- 
siahship.  He  was  the  Messiah  of  these  people 
in  one  sense,  but  not  in  another.  He  who  real- 
ized the  prophetic  hope  was  the  Messiah  and 
was  entitled  to  the  honor,  but  there  were  two 
different  conceptions  of  the  Messiah  in  the 
Scriptures.  According  to  one  of  these  the  peo- 
ple expected  Israel  and  Judah  to  be  re-estab- 
lished in  the  glory  of  the  people  of  God,  a  thor- 
oughly political  ideal;  according  to  the  other, 
the  people  expected  a  religious  and  ethical  re- 
vival of  their  deeper  life,  an  enhancement  and 
unfolding  of  their  faith,  and  an  extension  of 
their  knowledge  of  God  to  the  heathen;  a  con- 
ception that  corresponded  to  the  religious  and 
ethical  ideal  of  the  "new  covenant"  and  one 
that  was  sustained  by  Jeremiah  and  Deutero- 


40  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

Isaiah.  Both  conceptions  had  often  been  united, 
but  were  essentially  different.  Jesus  was  farth- 
est removed  from  the  political  ideal,  he  espoused 
the  spiritual  one.  He  was  perfectly  justified  in 
proclaiming  himself  the  Messiah,  while  espous- 
ing the  ethical  and  religious  view,  and  he  did 
this  in  a  thorough  manner.  His  new  piety  which 
consisted  in  faith  in  the  "Fatherhood  of  God," 
was  really  the  development  and  the  fulfilment 
of  the  teachings  of  Jeremiah  and  Deutero-Isa- 
iah;  it  was  indeed  "the  new  covenant."  His 
new  righteousness  was  really  the  law  written 
in  the  heart,  prophetically  foretold  by  Jere- 
miah. Jesus  felt  himself  called  to  rediscover 
those  deeper  and  more  spiritual  realities  that 
occupied  Deutero-Isaiah.  Hence  he  felt  himself 
constrained  by  every  motive,  psvchologic  and 
historic,  to  declare  himself  the  Messiah  that 
"was  to  come."  Thus  he  construed  his  doc- 
trine of  the  Messiah,  and  it  was  the  kind  of  a 
Messiah  that  the  people  were  to  receive  or  to 
reject.  It  was  undoubtedly  the  greatest  test  to 
which  the  Jews  ever  were  or  could  be  subjected. 
To  accept  this  Messiah  was  to  relinquish  all 
the  current  dreams  and  hopes  of  political  great- 
ness which  had  possessed  them,  and  to  permit 
the  divine  purpose  to  take  its  own  course.  It 
was,  in  a  word,  to  be  converted  to  the  idea  of 


SKETCH    OF    LIFE   AND    MINISTRY.  41 

piety  and  morality  which  proclaimed  itself  in 
Jesus. 

Jesus  was  certain  of  his  "Messiahship" 
ever  since  his  calling.  The  words  "Thou  art 
my  beloved  Son, ' '  which  he  heard  then,  had  the 
same  meaning  as  ' '  Thou  art  my  Anointed  One. ' ' 
Indeed  the  solemn  title  for  the  Messiah  was 
"Son  of  God."  But  thus  far  he  had  made  no 
claim  to  this  position  and  had  not  entrusted 
even  his  own  disciples  with  this  secret.  Hence 
his  joy  and,  one  may  add,  his  surprise  was 
correspondingly  greater  to  find  this  conviction 
gradually  and  intelligently  forming  itself  in 
their  minds  and  breaking  out  at  last  in  the  con- 
fession, "Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the 
living  God."  The  scene  is  given  in  Matthew 
xvi.  13,  and  occurred  at  the  beginning  of  that 
period  of  wandering,  not  far  from  Caesarea. 
The  confession  appeared  so  wonderful  to  Jesus 
that  he  said  to  Peter:  "Flesh  and  blood  hath 
not  revealed  this  to  thee,  but  my  Father  which 
is  in  heaven." 

It  will  be  remembered  that  up  to  this  time 
Jesus  had  forbidden  his  disciples  to  proclaim 
his  Messiahship.  Henceforth  it  was  to  be  dif- 
ferent; the  time  of  silence  was  gone  and  the 
time  for  speaking  had  come.  As  he  journeyed 
to  Jerusalem  amid  the  pilgrim  band,  it  was 


42  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

known  that  he  was  the  Messiah  and  that  he 
would  enter  Jerusalem  as  such.  His  Messianic 
character  was  clearly  proclaimed  to  all  the  city 
by  the  exact  correspondence  of  his  entrance  to 
the  prophetic  forecast.  It  was  Zechariah  that 
had  said  of  the  Messianic  King:  " Rejoice 
greatly,  0  daughter  of  Zion ;  shout,  0  daughter 
of  Jerusalem:  Behold  thy  king  cometh  unto 
thee:  he  is  just  and  having  salvation;  lowly  and 
riding  upon  an  ass  and  upon  a  colt  the  foal  of 
an  ass."  This  passage  was  put  forth  figur- 
atively in  the  prophet;  it  was  to  express  the 
peaceful  and  unwarlike  character  of  him  who 
was  to  come.  Jesus  referred  it  to  himself  and 
gave  the  people  to  understand  that  he  was  the 
promised  one.  He  commanded  two  of  his  dis- 
ciples to  go  to  Bethphage  hard  by  Jerusalem 
and  bring  him  the  colt  of  an  ass,  corresponding 
to  the  prophetic  statement.  Being  seated  upon 
it  by  his  disciples,  he  rode  into  Jerusalem,  his 
way  strewn  with  the  branches  of  the  trees  and 
the  garments  of  the  people,  and  the  multitude 
shouting:  "Hosanna,  blessed  is  he  who  comes 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord."  Perceiving  the  im- 
port of  this,  the  chief  priests  and  the  scribes 
asked  him:  "Hearest  thou  what  these  say?" 
They  were  anxious  that  he  should  forbid  the 
people  to  call  him  the  Messiah.     But  he  an- 


SKETCH    OF   LIFE   AND    MINISTRY.  43 

swered:  "I  tell  you  if  these  should  hold  their 
peace  the  stones  would  immediately  cry  out." 
The  crisis  was  precipitated.  The  morrow  was 
to  see  this  intensified  still  more,  inasmuch  as 
the  new  Messiah  would  exercise  his  kingly  pre- 
rogative by  clearing  the  temple  of  its  polluters. 
The  issue  was  squarely  drawn.  A  few  days 
and  the  decision  of  the  people  for  or  against 
him  would  be  irrevocably  registered.  His  op- 
ponents did  not  yet  dare  him;  his  bold  deed  of 
cleansing  the  temple  was  allowed  to  go  unpun- 
ished. But  Jesus  was  not  misled  by  this  il- 
lusive condition  of  things;  he  knew  that  this 
fickle  people  would  shout  hosanna  today  and 
crucify  him  tomorrow,  and  he  knew  the  in- 
vincible character  of  his  enemy.  Still  a  glim- 
mer of  hope  must  have  struggled  with  the  grow- 
ing darkness  even  to  the  very  last,  for  in  the 
garden  of  Gethsemane  he  offered  that  most 
touching  of  prayers,  "Father,  if  it  be  possible 
let  this  cup  pass  from  me."  But  it  became  in- 
creasingly evident  to  him  that  he  was  to  en- 
dure most  bitterly,  and  that  it  was  the  inscrut- 
able will  of  God  to  give  up  his  beloved  to  weak- 
ness and  death.  Indeed  this  had  come  to  him 
when  he  left  Galilee.  He  spoke  of  it  on  the 
way  to  his  disciples,  and  then,  in  Bethany,  when 
the  sisters  anointed  ^is  body  with  costly  oint- 


44  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

ment,  he  said  "against  the  day  of  my  burial 
has  she  kept  this."  But  the  clearest  statement 
of  all  was  made  on  the  very  last  night. 

As  this  knowledge  grew  within  him,  two 
other  thoughts  also  took  possession  of  him  and 
filled  his  heart.  The  one  was:  if  God  hands 
over  his  servant  to  weakness  and  death,  he  can 
never  be  indifferent  to  the  consequences.  "The 
death  of  his  saints  is  precious  in  his  sight,"  is 
the  testimony  of  the  Psalms.  How  much  more 
the  death  of  Jesus?  God  will  cause  him  to  be 
honored  as  the  seal  and  security  of  the  new 
covenant  which  his  servant  has  founded  be- 
tween him  and  his  followers.  He  had  occasion- 
ally expressed  this  thought  before,  and  now 
again  in  the  dark  hour  of  his  betrayal  the  same 
thought  possessed  him  as  an  inspiration;  and, 
after  the  type  of  the  passover  of  the  ancient 
covenant,  he  founded  a  new  passover  for  his 
community,  the  memorial  supper  of  his  death. 
The  second  thought  was :  it  became  clear  to  him 
that  he  was  to  fall  in  this  fight,  which  would 
carry  in  the  common  judgment  of  that  age  a 
condemnation  of  his  work.  But  Jesus  had  an- 
other view  of  the  case.  His  faith  never  wavered 
for  a  moment ;  indeed  it  grew  in  unprecedented 
strength  and  boldness.  If  God  permitted  his 
messenger  to  die  in  shanie,  he  would  also  by 
some  means  or  other  help  him  to  final  victory. 


SKETCH    OF    LIFE   AND   MINISTRY.  45 

The  expressions,  and  the  images  of  the  book  of 
Daniel  came  to  his  aid  and  indicated  the  way 
in  which  God  would  fulfil  his  counsel  despite  ap- 
parent failure.  He  appropriated  these  state- 
ments. He  would  fall  now,  but  hereafter  he 
would  come  upon  the  clouds  of  heaven  to  hold 
divine  judgment  and  to  establish  an  everlasting 
kingdom.  What  a  tremendous  boldness!  One 
can  hardly  conceive  a  greater  proof  of  the  im- 
mediate and  immovable  certainty  of  the  Tight- 
ness and  the  worth  of  his  cause.  It  is  true  that 
this  was  not  literally  fulfilled,  but  it  was  ful- 
filled in  a  deeper  and  a  truer  sense.  He  came 
not  upon  the  clouds  of  heaven,  he  came  in  his 
words,  in  his  spirit,  and  in  the  historical  effect 
of  the  work  of  his  life.  The  moment  he  died, 
his  Gospel  was  unexpectedly  placed  in  freedom 
and  became  indeed  a  great  world-conquering 
power.  His  cause  proved  itself  to  be  the  cause 
of  God  and  its  enemies  were  reduced  to  an 
echo,  while  it  continued  as  an  eternal  and  im- 
perishable inheritance  of  humanity,  bearing 
within  it  the  promise  and  the  power  of  the  whole 
earth. 

The  catastrophe  came.  The  Master's  great 
following  might  have  caused  it  to  linger  a  few 
weeks  longer,  but  the  treachery  of  Judas  has- 
tened it.  Jesus  was  condemned  for  blasphemy 
by  the  Jewish   Sanhedrim.     The  punishment, 


46  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

according  to  Jewish  law,  was  death,  but  it  was 
not  in  their  power  to  inflict  it.  He  was  there- 
fore accused  of  insurrection  before  Pilate,  his 
claim  to  the  Messiahship  being  the  pretext  for 
it.  Pilate  must  have  known  that  the  terms 
"Messiah"  and  "king  of  the  Jews"  had  an- 
other significance  from  that  set  forth  against 
the  prisoner,  and  that  he  had  to  do  with  a 
"fanatic"  and  not  with  an  enemy  of  the  state. 
But  the  judge  had  other  reasons  for  his  course ; 
he  was  undoubtedly  anxious  to  placate  Jewish 
feelings,  which  he  had  abundantly  irritated. 
Jesus  was  made  to  undergo  the  punishment  due 
to  "treason,"  the  punishment  of  the  cross.  In- 
deed the  history  of  his  suffering,  even  the  great 
passion  on  Golgotha,  had  been  lightly  touched 
here  and  there  by  the  legendary  tendency. 
Traces  of  this  are  found  in  the  following  in- 
stances: the  angel  in  the  garden  of  Gethsem- 
ane,  the  healing  of  the  ear  of  the  servant  of 
the  high  priest,  the  rending  of  the  veil  of  the 
temple,  the  darkening  of  the  sun,  and  the  open- 
ing of  the  graves.  But  these  blemishes  can  be 
very  easily  removed.  And,  after  all  deductions 
have  been  made,  there  remains  the  most  sublime 
picture  that  history,  the  world  artist,  has  ever 
painted;  a  picture  so  full  of  dramatic  incident 
and  single  plastic  scenes  that  there  is  hardly  a 


SKETCH    OF    LIFE    AND    MINISTRY.  4/ 

pin-point,  which — as  Lessing  said— has  not  com- 
mended itself  to  artistic  effort ;  and  what  is  still 
more,  it  is  so  rich  in  material  for  culture  and 
elevation  that  the  heart  and  the  conscience  are 
ever  returning  to  it,  with  no  sign  of  exhausting 
the  source. 

One  will  be  inclined  to  close  this  history  with 
Golgotha,  thinking  that,  according  to  the  his- 
torical and  critical  view,  "the  close  as  well  as 
the  commencement  of  the  life  of  Jesus  lay  with- 
in the  realm  of  the  legendary,  and  that  what  is 
related  concerning  Golgotha  is  no  longer  his- 
tory." Such  a  view  would  find  support  both  in 
the  tangible  contradictions  found  in  the  narra- 
tives of  the  resurrection  in  the  several  Gos- 
pels and  in  the  equally  tangible  growth  and 
self-development  of  the  legend  from  Mark  to 
Matthew,  to  Luke,  and  to  John.  And  yet  this 
case  is  very  different  from  that  of  the  birth 
legends.  We  have  no  traces  of  them  in  the  old- 
est parts  of  the  narratives,  their  historicity  is 
excluded  by  Paul  and  by  the  Gospels 
themselves,  and  these  representations  be- 
tray their  own  lateness.  The  exact  oppo- 
site is  true  of  the  conviction  that  Jesus 
came  forth  from  the  dead.  One  may  al- 
most affirm  that  no  fact  in  history  is 
better  attested  than,  not  indeed  the  resurrec- 


48  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

tion,  but  the  firm  conviction  of  the  first  Chris- 
tian community  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
Christ.  Indeed,  it  is  evident  that  the  accounts 
of  the  Gospels  themselves,  even  that  of  Mark, 
are  legendary.  But  we  have  one  account  which 
is  certainly  one  or  more  decades  older  than  all 
the  accounts  of  the  Gospels,  which  criticism  has 
not  impugned  and  which  narrates  with  almost 
mathematical  accuracy  the  " manifestations" 
of  Jesus.  A  contest  had  risen  in  Corinth  re- 
specting the  fact  of  the  resurrection.  To  quiet 
this,  Paul*  enumerates  the  several  appearances 
of  the  risen  Christ,  giving  the  names  of  the 
witnesses,  whom  he  in  most  cases  knew  and 
whom  he  declared  yet  alive,  describing  them 
with  what  was  evidently  the  greatest  care, 
order,  and  completeness.  At  the  conclusion,  he 
mentions  himself  and  his  own  experience  on  the 
way  to  Damascus.  Things  look  essentially  dif- 
ferent here  from  what  they  do  in  the  subsequent 
Gospel  narratives,  being  plainer  and  more 
moderate.  We  find  nothing  of  the  spectacular 
here,  no  trace  of  the  angels  and  the  accompany- 
ing phenomena,  or  of  a  call  to  the  "open 
grave,"  or  of  a  material  resurrection.  Paul  evi- 
dently classes  all  "manifestations"  with  his 
own,  namely,  as  a  "vision,"  an  inner  experi- 

*      1  Cor.  15,  5. 


SKETCH    OF    LIFE    AND    MINISTRY.  49 

ence  and  perception  of  the  livingf  Christ;  an 
experience,  however,  that  affords  the  most  ab- 
solute certainty.  This  conviction  was  the  firm 
reason  for  his  entire  ministry,  his  apostolate, 
and  his  whole  spiritual  existence.  It  was,  un- 
doubtedly, the  united  conviction  of  the  first 
Christian  community,  and  undoubtedly  accounts 
for  its  origin  and  continuance.  Without  this 
conviction,  the  discipleship  would  have  dis- 
solved and  become  a  mere  echo;  with  it,  they 
became  heroes,  apostles,  martyrs,  and  created 
the  Church.  Historical  criticism  is  certainly 
called  upon  to  establish  the  fact  of  this  cer- 
tainty; no  more  and  no  less. 

Was  this  conviction  a  self-delusion?  Or  did 
it,  despite  legendary  and  sensuous  garnish- 
ments, rest,  in  the  last  analysis,  upon  a  real 
fact?  Historical  criticism  has  nothing  to  say 
for  or  against  life  after  death.  The  subject 
belongs  to  another  realm,  to  the  science  of  meta- 
physics and  to  the  region  of  personal  convic- 
tion. It  is  undoubtedly  a  special  case  under  the 
most  important  question  of  all:  "Does  person- 
ality belong  to  the  realm  of  the  perishable?  or 
does  it  belong  to  the  realm  of  the  eternal?  Does 

t  An  experience  which  we  might  illustrate  if  we  had  a 
clear  conception  of  a  ministry  from  will  to  will  and  from  soul 
to  soul,  completing  itself  not  in  the  customary  way  of  the 
senses    but  immediately. 


50  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

death  end  all,  or  is  it  simply  a  passage  to 
higher  existence?"  If  it  is  the  latter,  criticism 
and  historical  science  has  nothing  to  oppose  to 
the  conviction  of  the  disciples,  that  they  know 
that  their  Lord  had  come  forth  from  the  dead. 
On  the  contrary,  the  circumstance  that  Jesus, 
who  realized  spiritual  power  to  the  full,  both 
ethically  and  religiously — and  all  such  as  he, — 
had  an  exjiterience  that  lifted  him  above  the 
perishable, — this  circumstance  will  always  be 
the  foundation  for  the  conviction  that  the  spirit 
has  no  share  in  the  decay  of  the  flesh.  But 
these  questions  have  no  room  here ;  they  belong 
to  an  exhaustive  treatment  of  the  right  and  the 
necessity  of  an  idealistic  and  religious  view  of 
the  world  in  general. 


THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS. 

What  did  Jesus  desire!  What  did  he  con- 
tribute to  the  world?  To  understand  this,  one 
must  set  aside  all  dogmatic  and  traditional 
schemes  and  investigate  the  subject  in  an  abso- 
lutely historic  spirit. 

Jesus  commenced  his  ministry  with  the  an- 
nouncement of  the  coming  "kingdom,"  a  sub- 
ject which  was  quite  familiar  and  which  had  al- 
ready formed  the  bulk  of  the  Baptist's  ministry. 
He  was  far  from  making  any  new  announce- 
ment. He  knew  nothing  of  a  universal  and  gen- 
eral religion,  nothing  that  might  be  termed 
the  religion  of  humanity.  His  movement  was 
local,  temporary  and  of  the  most  restricted 
character,  proceeding  from  historical  premises, 
a  movement  which  can  be  understood  only  in 
the  light  of  its  own  background;  a  movement 
which  addressed  itself  to  an  unique  situation. 
It  was  certainly  not  the  eternal  Gospel,  it  was 
a  phase  of  religious  culture  which  passed  away 

(51) 


52  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

with  tlie  circumstances  that  gave  it  birth,  the 
significance  of  which  was  clearly  pointed  out 
in  the  preceding  chapter.  Jesus  was  thoroughly 
imbued  with  the  religious  faith  of  his  time  that 
at  last  the  long  desired  restoration  of  all  things 
was  at  hand.  Descending  from  above,  God  was 
about  to  shake  the  heavens  and  the  earth.  Old 
things  were  to  pass  away.  Everything  was  to 
be  completely  changed,  for  now  the  kingdom  of 
God  itself  was  to  be  realized  on  earth.  At  last 
the  protracted  complaints  which  the  righteous 
and  the  God-fearing  had  raised  from  the  days 
of  the  Psalmist  onward,  the  complaints,  the  im- 
precations, and  the  curses  against  the  destroyer 
from  without,  the  heathen  and  the  kings  of  the 
nations;  as  well  as  against  the  enemies  of  the 
saints  from  within,  the  haughty,  the  powerful 
and  the  courtly  rich — all  these  were  to  be 
hushed.  God  was  to  wipe  away  all  tears,  and 
there  was  to  be  neither  crying  nor  pain  any 
more.  The  mouth  was  to  be  full  of  laughter 
and  the  tongue  of  boasting,  when  this  kingdom 
was  to  descend  in  its  glory/  This  joyful  mes- 
sage was  the  Gospel,  the  very  Gospel  which 
Jesus  himself  preached  literally  at  the  begin- 
ning. And  indeed  his  " Believe  in  the  Gospel" 
was  at  first  no  other  than  the  old  ' '  Believe  that 
the  kingdom  of  consolation  is  at  hand."  The 
coming  of  this  kingdom  was  redemption.     To 


TEACHINGS   OF  JESUS.  53 

enter  into  it  was  to  be  saved  and  to  be  blessed. 
Indeed  ''the  hope  of  the  kingdom,"  which  was 
cherished  by  the  pious  and  the  silent  in  the 
land,  was  very  different  from  the  purely  na- 
tionalistic idea.  Its  ideal  was  altogether 
"secularly"  political.  Its  God  was  the  God  of 
a  people  of  common  descent,  and  its  salvation 
a  political  act.  The  other  ideal  was  definitely 
religious.  It  was  the  sore  and  peculiar  trial  of 
the  spiritual  people  that  the  faithful  and  the 
pious  were  compelled  to  submit,  on  the  one 
hand,  to  the  heathen  from  without,  and,  on  the 
other,  to  the  godless  from  within ;  and  the  lead- 
ing features  of  their  salvation  consisted  in  the 
attainment  of  freedom,  justification  by  faith, 
and  trust  in  God.  But  even  then  the  kingdom 
hoped  for  was  no  abstraction,  no  mere  sub- 
jective blessedness,  no  "kingdom  of  heaven" 
according  to  our  understanding  of  the  term; 
but  a  thoroughly  external,  local,  and  present 
thing,  achieving  external  fortune,  the  golden 
Jerusalem,  and  the  rule  of  the  pious.  Even 
Jesus  shared  these  views, — shared,  if  you  will, 
"the  utopianism"  of  his  age.  He  spoke  of  eat- 
ing and  drinking  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  and 
his  disciples  were  to  sit  on  twelve  thrones 
"judging,"  that  is,  governing  the  twelve  tribes 
of  Israel,  and  ruling  with  him.  Thus,  he  did 
not  at  first  formally  separate  himself  from  the 


54  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

Baptist ;  he  seemed  to  have  only  the  same  call 
as  he,  namely,  to  be  a  Jewish  preacher  of  re- 
pentance and — an  "utopist." 

Meanwhile  we  proceed  at  once  to  make  some 
necessary  qualifications:  First,  the  very  thing 
noticed  about  the  preaching  of  the  Baptist  was 
true,  in  a  greater  degree  of  Jesus.  If  any  one 
would  compare  the  preaching  of  Jesus  with  the 
phantasies  and  the  "eschatological"  ideas  of 
his  age,  which  have  come  down  to  us,  he  would 
see  at  once  how  remote  he  was  from  all  of  them. 
While  entire  books  were  devoted  at  that  time 
to  the  discussion  of  the  last  things,  the  refer- 
ences of  Jesus  to  them  are  scanty  and  meagre, 
and  where  these  are  to  be  found  they  hardly 
agree  with  one  another.  For  instance,  he  spoke 
in  one  place  of  eating  and  drinking  within  the 
kingdom,  implying  a  continuation  of  present 
conditions,  whereas  in  another  place  he  excludes 
them:  "They  will  be  like  angels  in  heaven." 
He  did  not  undertake  to  say  "how"  and 
"when"  this  kingdom  was  to  come,  a  very  fever- 
ish subject  in  that  age.  He  knew  neither  the 
day  nor  the  hour  of  its  appearance  and  hardly 
mentions  a  thing  concerning  the  content  and 
conditions  of  this  new  kingdom;  he  was  not  in- 
terested in  it  for  its  own  sake.  All  his  interest 
centered  immediately  in  the  statement:  "The 
kingdom  is  coming,  therefore  it  behooves  you  to 


TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS.  55 

be  ready."  This  was  largely  the  case  with 
John  the  Baptist.  The  announcement  of  the 
kingdom  and  its  coming  had  already  become  a 
soul  cure  for  him,  a  goal,  so  to  speak,  which  car- 
ried with  it  the  idea  of  a  return  to  God,  to  piety 
and  morality ;  and  these  were  regarded  at  first 
as  means  conditioning  the  coming  of  the  king- 
dom. But  as  soon  as  these  were  realized,  they 
won  a  value  of  their  own,  and  the  emphasis 
passed  over  to  them. 

But  the  process  thus  began  by  John  was 
carried  to  completion  by  Jesus.  What  was  once 
regarded  as  only  a  condition  to  something  else, 
became  itself  an  end.  Preaching  of  the  religious 
and  ethical  type,  planting  of  piety  and  right- 
eousness, and  the  cure  of  souls  became  the 
proper  calling  and  content  of  his  life.  He  re- 
versed the  order  of  preaching.  What  before 
had  been  secondary  now  became  primary,  what 
before  had  been  provisional  now  became  final. 
Large  portions  of  his  preaching  were  given  up 
to  the  removal  of  matter  pertaining  to  the  king- 
dom, matter  which  had  no  further  general  valid- 
ity. And  there  was  much  else  which  was  closely 
connected  with  the  "preaching  of  the  kingdom," 
but  which,  could  be  so  removed  as  to  inflict 
no  injury  upon  the  subject  under  discussion. 
Under  the  covering  of  the  "preaching  of  the 
kingdom,"    he    became    the    great    cure    and 


56  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

shepherd  of  his  people  and  of  his  community, 
planting  a  spiritual  life,  that  is,  an  inwardness 
possessing  absolutely  peculiar  worth. 

"An  inwardness  possessing  absolutely  pe- 
culiar worth" — this  is  our  second  point, 
and  it  needs  careful  comment  as  the  more 
essential  thing.  In  comparison  with  the 
"preaching  of  the  kingdom."  the  religi- 
ous and  ethical  phases  now  receive  the 
emphasis  and  pass  into  the  foreground;  and 
not  only  that,  but  the  preaching  becomes  some- 
thing entirely  different  from,  something  in- 
comparably higher  than,  that  of  his  predeces- 
sors. It  planted  dispositions  and  ideals  and 
created  a  piety  and  morality  with  which  even  a 
John  was  not  acquainted.  This  gave  him  pre- 
cedence over  all  his  forerunners.  The  view  that 
the  kingdom  was  at  hand,  and  that  therefore 
repentance  was  needed,  he  shared  with  the  Bap- 
tist and  with  others.  This  was  not  his  new 
contribution,  but  was  a  perishable  inheritance 
with  which  his  generation  had  provided  him, 
and  it  made  him  only  a  pious  Jew  of  the  first 
century.  It  was  the  new  piety  which  he  awoke 
and  the  new  righteousness  which  he  demanded 
that  made  him  Jesus,  the  light  of  the  world. 

Jesus  certainly  demanded  that  they  "do  the 
will  of  God."  But  this  was  nothing  new,  this 
was  an  old  demand.  But  what  had  hitherto  been 


TEACHINGS   OF  JESUS.  57 

regarded  as  "the  will  of  God"?  The  law,  the 
thora.  Now  this  law  had  the  most  diversified 
contents:  precepts  of  a  social  character,  of 
right,  and  of  divine  service,  ceremonies  and  ob- 
servances, especially  precepts  respecting  "pur- 
ity," particularly  ritual  and  Levitical  purity, 
respecting  abstinence  from  all  kinds  of  food, 
contacts,  stains,  washings,  and  expiatory  cus- 
toms and  the  like.  Embedded  among  all  of  these 
were  also  commands  of  a  purely  religious  and 
ethical  character  which  referred  not  to  external 
things  but  to  the  conscience;  for  instance,  the 
"ten  commandments"  or  such  a  demand  as, 
' '  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself. ' '  But 
these  were  not  properly  appreciated,  because 
they  mingled  indiscriminately  with  ceremonial 
and  ritual  precepts.  The  duty  of  loving  one's 
brother  was  placed  along  side  of  ritual  observ- 
ances as  if  they  were  of  equal  worth.  And  it 
was  worse  even  that  that;  where  ethical  and 
ceremonial  duties  clashed,  the  former  had  to 
give  way.  Men  watched  with  greater  anxiety 
for  the  exact  form  of  some  sacrificial  obliga- 
tions than  for  love  to  their  fellows,  for  ritual 
purity  than  for  purity  of  heart.  The  first  act 
of  Jesus  was  to  emancipate  the  ethical.  He 
freed  it  from  that  dangerous  conjunction  and 
conformation  with  the  ceremonial,  the  ritual, 
and  the  legal.    He  discerned  its  unique  worth, 


58  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

and  set  it  apart.  He  did  not  at  first  contend 
polemically  against  the  ceremonial  and  the  rit- 
ual. He  did  not  forbid  the  further  considera- 
tion of  it.  He  even  obeyed  it  as  a  whole  him- 
self. But  he  expressed  his  opinion  of  it  clearly 
in  condemning  the  man  who  deemed  it  more  im- 
portant to  fulfil  his  sacrificial  duty  than  his 
parental  duty;  in  his  doctrine  of  the  Sabbath 
when  he  taught,  "The  Sabbath  was  made  for 
man,  and  not  man  for  the  Sabbath  " ;  in  his  ref- 
erence to  the  Levitical  law  and  all  the  anxious 
observances  and  cleansing  of  vessels  connected 
with  it,  when  he  said,  "Not  that  which  goeth 
into  the  mouth  defileth  a  man,  but  that  which 
cometh  out  of  the  mouth."  The  clearest  state- 
ment of  all  was  when  he  spoke  of  love  to  God 
and  to  one's  neighbor  in  the  words:  "On  these 
two  commandments  hang  all  the  law  and  the 
prophets."  Drawing  this  line  of  distinction 
clearly  between  the  ritual  sphere  and  the  eth- 
ical sphere,  he  was  able  to  show  to  the  con- 
science what  was  the  "will  of  God"  and  what 
was  not,  and  to  lead  for  the  first  time  the  ethical 
consciousness  to  its  purity.  It  was  this  in 
particular  that  led  to  his  destruction,  and  that, 
to  the  adherents  of  the  existing  conditions,  was 
the  most  obtrusive  and  dangerous  of  his  in- 
novations; yet  it  had  only  a  secondary  relation 
to  his  deepest  and  most  characteristic  message. 


TEACHINGS    OF   JESUS.  59 

The  new  message  in  religion,  of  which  Jesus 
himself  was  conscious  when  he  said  that  John 
was  the  greatest  born  of  woman,  but  that  the 
least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  was  greater  than 
he,  and  which  was  to  divide  the  old  from  the 
new,  Christ  from  his  predecessors,  was  some- 
thing still  higher. 

What  was  this  new  and  still  higher  thing! 
It  was  something  of  extraordinary  simplicity, 
something  that  did  not  call  for  many  words, 
and  yet  it  was  something  very  great.  It  could 
not  be  characterized  as  a  new  "knowledge  of 
God, "  or  a  profound  all-embracing  theology,  or 
a  new  theoretic  conception  of  the  relation  of 
the  Godhead  to  the  world,  or  of  the  infinite 
ground  of  things  to  its  phenomena  and  its  ef- 
fects, or  of  the  eternal  to  the  temporal,  or  of 
the  present  to  that  which  lies  beyond.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  he  cherished  the  naive,  anthro- 
pomorphic conception  of  things,  which  simple, 
Judaic  theism  had  previously  developed:  God 
as  a  king  enthroned  in  heaven,  looking  down 
upon  things  and  ruling  the  world  with  his  om- 
nipotent power.  He  did  not  bring  a  new  the- 
ology but  a  new  piety;  not  a  new  theoretic  con- 
ception of  eternity,  but  a  new  practical  conduct 
and  disposition  toward  it.  We  may  say  that 
he  was  the  first  to  bring,  in  a  general  way,  true 
piety  into  the  world.     God  had,  indeed,  been 


60  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

real  enough  to  Judaism,  but  only  indirectly  and 
through  His  law.  He  was  respected  as  the  de- 
fender of  the  law,  but  there  was  no  real  and 
vital  relation  to  Him,  no  lasting  and  experien- 
tial possession  of  Him  in  mind  and  in  spirit. 
This  was  the  very  thing  that  Jesus  brought  in 
and  made  vital.  Henceforth  piety  consisted  not 
in  obedience  to  law  and  the  expectation  of  re- 
ward and  punishment  from  its  mighty  Preserver 
and  Executor ;  these  now  became  a  matter  of  in- 
difference. Piety,  in  the  future,  meant  to  pos- 
sess God  and  His  presence  at  all  times  in  an 
experiential  way,  that  is,  to  fill  the  entire  life 
with  the  feeling  of  His  nearness.  And  this  feel- 
ing was  not  one  of  fear  and  overwhelming  hor- 
ror in  the  presence  of  the  supernatural,  as  here- 
tofore in  the  Old  Testament  and  in  all  heathen 
religions;  it  was  a  feeling  of  the  deepest  rev- 
erence and  meekness  in  the  presence  of  Him, 
who  sits  enthroned  above  all  the  world  and  all 
creatures  in  unspeakable  secrecy,  the  name  of 
whom  is  Holiness.  At  the  same  time  it  con- 
tained a  liberating,  redeeming,  and  childlike 
trust  which  lifted  its  possessor  above  all  servi- 
tude into  eternal  love,  a  trust  which  knew  all 
existence,  even  its  own,  even  single  and  little 
things,  firmly  infolded  in  the  eternal  care  and 
providence,  and  which  did  not  permit  itself  to 
be  led  astray  by   tribulation,    exercising    the 


TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS.  61 

childlike  spirit  even  in  Gethsemane.  This  was 
the  spirit  that  prayed,  ''Not  as  I  will,  but  as 
thou  wilt. ' '  This  was  not  a  superficial  optimism, 
which  closed  its  eyes  to  the  hardness,  the  diffi- 
culty, and  the  enigma  of  life.  Jesus  saw  and 
suffered  it  all.  It  was  rather  a  courageous  and 
resolute  idealism  which,  in  spite  of  all  opposi- 
tion, mystery,  and  death,  continued  to  believe 
in  eternal  love  as  the  last  meaning  and  inten- 
tion of  things.  There  was  indeed  nothing  su- 
perficial and  weak  in  this  faith  in  the  divine 
"Fatherhood."  For  here  God  was  regarded 
pre-eminently  as  the  representative  and  es- 
sence of  the  moral  law,  which  pledges  one  to 
absolute  honesty  and  truth.  To  call  this  God 
"Father"  was  to  submit  one's  self  completely 
to  the  ethical  order  of  the  world  and  to  do  it 
regardless  of  consequences.  "Be  ye  perfect, 
even  as  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  is  per- 
fect." This  new  piety  made  itself  known  in 
many  sayings  and  parables;  but  the  simplest 
way  of  expressing  it  was  by  the  term  "Father" 
and  its  correlate  "sons  of  God"  for  the  dis- 
ciples of  Jesus;  and  its  creed  was  the  Lord's 
prayer. 

This  new  religion,  which  was  the  religion  of 
Jesus,  was  not  the  product  of  reflection  or 
thought,  of  speculation  or  philosophic  endeavor, 
or  of  any  kind  of  demonstration.     It  was  the 


62  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

spontaneous  result  of  his  religious  and  genial 
individuality,  a  veritable  spring  issuing  from 
depths  that  no  scientific,  psychological  analyses 
could  fathom  or  laws  of  development  explain. 
Jesus  presented  it  not  as  a  novelty  or  a  thing 
of  wonder,  but  as  the  natural  and  proper  thing 
for  him  to  do.  It  issued  from  the  depths  of 
his  own  life  freely  and  easily  that  it  might  also 
become  the  property  of  others,  yet  it  was  con- 
sidered for  a  long  time  as  a  novelty.  It  was 
his  deepest  life  and  he  gave  it  gladly.  Because 
he  had  experienced  God  within  his  own  life,  be- 
cause he  had  realized  the  divine  Sonship  within 
himself,  because  he  knew  that  he  was  Son  and 
that  God  was  his  Father,  those  who  would  par- 
take of  his  fulness  might  receive  the  same  bless- 
ing. This  he  had  discerned  himself;  and  in  one 
of  the  great  moments  of  his  life,  this  knowledge 
broke  forth  joyfully  in  the  words,  "No  one 
knows  the  Son  save  the  Father,  neither  knoweth 
any  man  the  Father,  save  the  Son,  and  he  to 
whomsoever  the  Son  will  reveal  him." 

This  was  the  message  of  Jesus.  It  was  no 
imperfect  or  provisional  message,  it  was  the 
perfect  redemption.  Wherever  it  entered,  all 
slavish  fear,  all  servility,  all  anxiety,  all  pinch- 
ing care  was  driven  away.  This  piety  was  it- 
self the  best  redemption.  It  rooted  the  mind  in 
freedom.     The  eternal  world  was  brought  into 


TEACHINGS   OF  JESUS.  63 

the  midst  of  life  as  a  subject  of  experience  and 
even  of  possession ;  it  penetrated  with  its  light 
and  its  warmth  into  the  hearts  of  men.  Life 
was  lifted  to  a  new  and  altogether  different 
plane,  and  received  a  tremendous  impulse.  Man 
awoke  to  the  consciousness  of  his  eternal  worth. 
And  this  piety  was  not  for  a  class,  not  for  ex- 
ceptionally gifted  characters,  as  past  forms  of 
piety  had  been,  it  was  possible  for  every  one, 
who  had  a  longing  for  the  living  God. 

But  this  "new  righteousness" — to  return 
once  more  to  the  subject — grew  in  this  high 
region  into  the  full  broad  ideal  of  Jesus.  We 
saw  above  how  he  freed  the  ethical  from  false 
connections  and  entanglements;  we  must  now 
add  that  he,  at  the  same  time,  deepened  it  in- 
finitely, placing  it  upon  the  right  basis  and  giv- 
ing it  new  content.  Furthermore,  he  made 
known  the  necessary  and  indeed  the  only  con- 
nection that  one  needs  to  affirm  between  "re- 
ligion" and  "morality,"  that  wherever  the 
eternal  world  is  a  real  and  vital  part  of  human 
life,  it  has  also  breadth  and  depth  enough  to 
include  the  ethical;  more  than  this,  it  is  pre- 
pared to  perceive  the  ethical  itself  as  eternal, 
absolute,  and  plainly  obligatory.  In  the  soil 
of  this  new  piety,  the  ethical  perception  and 
judgments  of  Jesus  gained  of  necessity  an  en- 
ergy and  a  tension  the  like  of  which  they  had 


64  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

never  hitherto  attained,  either  in  Judaistic  or 
Grecian  life  and  thought.  The  doing  of  the  good 
is  not  a  mercantile  transaction ;  it  must  possess 
the  whole  man;  it  must  be  seized  and  accomp- 
lished with  iron  resolution.  "If  thy  right  eye 
offend  thee  pluck  it  out  and  cast  it  from  thee." 
The  parables  of  The  Treasure  Hid  in  a 
Field  and  The  Pearl  of  Great  Price,  which 
inculcate  the  principle  of  hazarding  all  to  gain 
"the  one  thing  necessary,"  have  a  like  import. 
This  was  not  rigorism,  not  scrupulous  petti- 
ness, not  squeamishness  of  conscience  about  in- 
dividual things.  Jesus'  ideal  of  righteousness 
was  completely  free  from  all  this.  His  ideal 
was  large-featured,  simple,  standing  in  com- 
plete contrast  to  all  miserable  calculations  and 
merchandizing  as  well  as  to  all  self-inflicted  cas- 
uistry and  pettifoggery,  which  had  hitherto 
been  practised.  No  other  course  was  possible 
to  one  who  was  so  full  of  the  absolute  obliga- 
tion of  the  moral  law  and  of  the  highest  con- 
centrated moral  energy  and  determination. 
Thus  it  was  that  he  at  once  awoke,  purified,  and 
deepened  the  sense  of  sin  and  guilt. 

The  preaching  of  Jesus  was  never  guilty  of 
cant  about  the  "tendency  to  sin,"  which  ends 
mostly  in  frittering  away  the  sense  of  guilt.  On 
the  contrary,  the  issue  is  met  with  deep  earnest- 
ness.   To  miss  the  point  was  not  an  error,  not 


TEACHINGS   OF  JESUS.  65 

an  oversight  traceable  to  the  reason,  not  a  mis- 
fortune due  to  environment  and  natural  dispo- 
sition, nor  indeed  mere  pollution,  defilement, 
and  contact  with  the  ugly  and  the  commonplace, 
which  the  esthetic  sense  could  not  complacently 
endure.  But  it  was  sin,  and  as  such  it  was  '  *  the 
greatest  evil,"  not  because  of  its  evil  conse- 
quences, but  because  of  its  denial  of  the  highest 
nobility  of  the  human  soul  and  because  of  its 
severing  of  the  connection  between  it  and  Grod. 
The  preaching  of  Jesus  showed  the  true  and 
only  way  to  remove  guilt,  not  by  any  external 
manipulations,  such  as  washings,  consecrations, 
and  acts  of  atonement,  set  forth  and  recom- 
mended by  Judaism  and  Grecianism;  but  by  the 
way  set  forth  in  the  parables  of  the  Prodigal 
Son  and  The  Lost  Sheep,  the  way  of  deep  and 
genuine  repentance.  Furthermore,  Jesus  placed 
righteousness  where  it  belonged,  in  the  disposi- 
tion and  the  heart ;  not  in  the  deed  or  the  word, 
not  in  the  hand  or  the  mouth.  There 
is  nothing  good  in  this  world,  but  "the 
good  will."  The  man  must  be  good  at  the  cen- 
ter, else  his  words  and  his  deeds  are  not  good, 
and  if  he  is  good  at  heart,  all  care  for  the  ex- 
ternals of  life  is  vain  and  unnecessary.  For  the 
will  is  inwardly  identified  with  its  ideal,  and  the 
ethical  action  proceeds  for  the  first  time  freely 
and  without  constraint  and  is  consequently  gen- 


66  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

uine  and  full  of  worth;  "a  good  tree  cannot 
bring  forth  evil  fruit,  neither  can  a  corrupt  tree 
bring  forth  good  fruit."  Hence  the  ethical  deed 
is  no  longer  an  isolated  thing,  no  longer  a  nu- 
merical magnitude,  no  longer  a  thing  of  weight 
and  measurement,  nor  does  it  admit  of  more  or 
less  or  of  a  surplus.  One  cannot  do  more  than 
his  duty.  The  workers  who  began  in  the  morn- 
ing, could  do  no  more  than  they  who  began  at 
the  eleventh  hour;  they  all  could  but  do  their 
duty,  and  God  gave  alike  to  them.  And  since 
there  is  no  reckoning  nor  measuring,  one  can- 
not reckon  or  measure  beforehand  to  demand 
a  recompense  from  God.  "When  ye  shall  have 
done  all  those  things  which  are  commanded  you, 
say,  We  are  unprofitable  servants ;  we  have  done 
that  which  it  was  our  duty  to  do." 

And  thus  it  proceeded.  Views  and  knowl- 
edges of  the  profoundest  character  sprang  up 
everywhere;  views  which  passed  long  ago  into 
the  general  consciousness  becoming  the  classi- 
cal and  fundamental  rules  for  all  high  and  genu- 
ine morality,  and  which  broadened  out  into  an 
astonishing  fulness  of  individual  traits,  into 
unforgetable  formulations  and  expressions, 
pregnant  with  a  multitude  of  fine  observations 
respecting  human  kind  and  humanity.  But 
these  views  culminated  in  their  pronouncement 
upon  personality  and  its  transcendent  worth  as 


TEACHINGS  OF   JESUS.  67 

compared  with  all  earthly  goods:  "What  profit- 
eth  a  man,  if  he  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose 
his  own  soul?"  Indeed  Greek  philosophy  had 
already  been  a  culture  of  the  inner  man  and  a 
cure  of  the  soul.  But  here  the  cure  of  the  soul 
was  the  whole  thing;  it  was  its  salvation.  The 
question  of  the  religious  and  ethical  content  of 
the  life  of  the  soul  became  central,  before  which 
all  others  vanished;  it  was  a  question  of  life  and 
death.  Now  this  led  necessarily  to  that  which 
we  call  "personality"  and  "individuality."  The 
new  piety  and  its  fundamental  thought  of  di- 
vine sonship  made  for  this.  Grecian  morality 
had  lifted  up  a  high  ethical  ideal  of  human  life 
and  dignity,  but  it  was  "impersonal"  in  a  pe- 
culiar sense.  It  had  set  up  the  rational,  the 
thought  element,  the  logical  side  of  our  nature 
as  constituting  the  truly  human  in  man.  But 
this  is  not  that  which  constitutes  "personality." 
When  we  speak  of  personality,  we  think 
of  character,  and  the  matter  that  goes  to  the 
making  of  character  does  not  proceed  from  the 
cognitive  and  intellectual  faculties,  but  from  the 
will,  the  disposition,  and  the  affection.  And 
this  is  the  very  side  of  the  man  that  the  Gos- 
pel seeks  to  develop.  The  trust,  the  reverence^ 
the  meekness  and  the  love  which  it  demands 
are  affections  and  acts  that  emanate  from  the 
will.     Its  fundamental  trait  is  thoroughly  dis- 


68  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

positional  not  intellectual.  On  the  contrary, 
Grecian  ethics  and  thought  emphasize  the  gen- 
eral, the  typical,  the  ''idea,"  not  the  individual, 
and,  in  turn,  the  reason,  the  rational  as  it  is 
alike  in  all  men.  But  the  Gospel  emphasizes 
the  person.  It  is  not  man's  rationality  that 
constitutes  him  the  " child  of  God"  and  the  ob- 
ject of  the  divine  love,  but  his  person,  his  ''iso- 
lated personality." 

If  we  now  study  the  content  of  this  "new 
righteousness"  of  Jesus,  it  is  in  general  plain 
morality,  attested  by  the  conscience  and  partly 
contained  already  in  the  prophetic  preaching  of 
the  Old  Testament.  But  it  was  Jesus  who  dis- 
closed its  full  meaning  by  his  "highest  com- 
mand" of  pure  neighbor  love.  Even  the  an- 
cient covenant  contained  this:  "Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  But  it  was  one 
commandment  among  many.  Christ  drew  it 
forth  placing  it  and  love  to  God  in  the  first 
place,  making  it  the  fundamental  law  of  his 
fellowship  and  the  distinguishing  mark  of  those 
who  seriously  attached  themselves  to  him.  In 
the  Old  Testament,  brotherhood  is  limited  to 
the  line  of  descent  and  nationality ;  in  the  New 
Testament,  Jesus  makes  it  as  wide  as  the  need 
of  man,  including  even  one's  enemies  and  illus- 
trating the  same  by  the  parable  of  the  good 
Samaritan.     The  highest  proof  of  such  love  is 


TEACHINGS  OF   JESUS.  69 

to  love  one's  enemy.  But  this  love  is  not  a 
characterless,  indolent  sufferance  of  all  things, 
not  an  apathy  towards  any  and  all  evil,  or  Jesus 
would  have  but  poorly  illustrated  it;  it  is  not 
that,  but  it  is  the  strong  virtue  that  can  love 
the  neighbor  in  the  enemy,  pray  for  those  who 
despitefully  use  us  and  bless  those  who  curse 
us.  This  and  compassion  that  knows  no  con- 
ditions, pardon  even  to  the  "seventy  times 
seven,"  overcoming  of  evil  with  good,  and  love 
to  the  lost  are  the  five  great  proofs  of  the  love 
of  one's  neighbor  demanded  by  Jesus.  And 
these  are  completely  misunderstood,  if  one  in- 
terprets them  as  a  weak,  effeminate  set  of  quali- 
ties or  as  a  cloak  covering  mere  "good  nature." 
One  must  regard  all  five  as  thoroughly  sur- 
charged with  the  fundamental  disposition  of  the 
Gospel  of  Jesus.  And  each  of  these  is  wholly 
degenerate,  unless  it  is  the  vigorous  product  of 
the  ethical  will.  One  understands  this  thor- 
oughly and  at  once  if  he  attempts  to  think  of 
Jesus  himself  or  one  of  his  most  genuine  fol- 
lowers, say  Paul  or  Augustine  or  Luther  as 
merely  "good  natured."  Further,  the  ethical 
ideal  of  the  "new  righteousness"  magnifies  it- 
self in  all  the  known  demands  of  purity  of 
heart,  sincerity,  truthfulness  without  the  oath 
and  the  like,  and  has  woven  for  itself  a  gar- 
land of  peculiar  dispositions,  not  lending  them- 


<()  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

selves  readily  to  statutes  and  paragraphs  but 
winning  for  the  whole,  for  the  first  time,  the 
ring  of  genuineness;  for  instance,  the  disposi- 
tion of  absolute  meekness  towards  God  and  that 
of  absolute  independence  towards  men,  the  for- 
bidding of  anxious  care  as  a  heathen  sin  sub- 
stituting for  it  the  bright  joyous  conception  of 
life,  which  stands  in  such  rugged  opposition  to 
that  of  John  the  Baptist  and  which  has  some- 
thing of  pleasure  in  it  "whiling  away  sweet 
life,"  the  piety  which  permeates  everything  and 
accompanies  but  does  not  identify  itself  with 
mystical  secrecy  and  separatism,  and  particu- 
larly the  command,  "Be  as  little  children." 
This  last  characterizes  the  message  of  Jesus 
as  no  other  does.  It  shows  a  complete  con- 
trast to  all  the  religious  technicalities,  artifici- 
alities and  perversities  of  the  age,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  his  simplicity,  his  immediateness 
and  candor  in  everything,  in  faith,  action  and 
conduct  of  life.  This  is  the  most  secret,  the 
most  difficult  and  the  finest  thing  in  all  Chris- 
tendom, a  condition  which  is  in  the  religious 
realm  what  genius  is  in  the  artistic  realm,  a 
condition  where  the  categoric  imperative  and 
all  forms  of  physical  force  are  left  far  behind 
and  where  faith  and  ethical  action  spring  up 
spontaneously  and  abundantly,  a  condition 
where  all  mechanical   activities  avail  not,  be- 


TEACHINGS   OF   JESUS.  71 

cause  of  the  call  for  a  deep  and  a  self-sacrific- 
ing spirit,  a  condition  to  be  attained  only  by 
the  completest  change  in  thought  and  will.  This 
was  called  later  "the  new  birth,"  than  which 
no  more  pregnant  a  figure  could  be  found. 

This  was  the  preaching  and  the  ministry  of 
Jesus.  Its  center  and  well-spring  was  the  new 
piety,  the  consciousness  of  the  divine  sonship, 
of  union  with  God,  and  this  as  a  restful,  per- 
manent, and  blessed  possession  of  life.  In  this 
union  with  God  was  given  at  once  the  strong 
foundation  and  the  constant  source  of  supply 
for  its  free,  pure,  and  deep  morality.  With 
these  two  he  certainly  brought  an  "Eternal 
Gospel,"  not  merely  to  his  own  people,  but  to 
the  people  of  the  world.  It  is  true  however 
that  many  a  problem  was  solved  only  tem- 
porarily in  his  presentation  of  the  new  right- 
eousness and  that  it  was  not  a  complete  code  for 
all  questions  and  for  all  time.  But  in  its  great 
ruling  thoughts  was  provided  the  permanent 
foundation  for  the  true  human  ethics.  And  our 
great  metaphysical  problems,  the  relation  of  the 
eternal  to  the  temporal,  of  the  Here  to  the  Be- 
yond, and  of  the  infinite  to  the  finite  have 
greatly  changed  from  what  they  were  in  primi- 
tive ages ;  they  have  grown  and  have  assumed 
other  proportions.  Our  representations  of  God 
no  longer  fit  into  the  homely  imagery  of  the 


72  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

heavenly  king  upon  an  invisible  throne.  We 
know  that  this  is  only  a  figurative  expression, 
as  is  all  our  talk  about  Him.  The  theology  and 
the  philosophy  of  our  age  are  striving  after 
new  expressions  to  grasp  that  eternal  and  other- 
world  reality,  that  eternal  governing  Power, 
which  lies  at  the  base  of  the  actual  world.  But 
wherever  this  highest  ruling  Power  is  grasped 
and  understood  as  a  Holy  Will,  encompassing 
with  infinite  power  the  greatest  and  the  least 
and  directing  them  according  to  eternal  ends, 
and  wherever  a  person  submits  himself  to  it 
in  meekness  and  in  absolute  trust  and  thus  wins 
strength,  freshness  and  joy  for  the  conduct  of 
such  an  ideal  life,  there  one  finds  a  disciple  of 
Jesus.  Such  a  person  is  what  the  Master  would 
expect  today  of  his  disciple.  He  would  then  be 
what  the  disciples  were. 

If  we  now  glance  backward  for  a  moment  at 
the  above  mentioned  relations  of  the  most  es- 
sential elements  in  the  history  of  Jesus  to  the 
announcement  of  the  "approaching  kingdom," 
it  has  become  clear  how  completely  this  preach- 
ing and  its  ideals  had  outgrown  the  character 
of  being  merely  provisional  or  preparatory; 
they  could  no  longer  be  thrust  back  into  the  old 
frame-work.  The  coming  kingdom  had  no  longer 
any  surprises  for  one  so  "prepared."  The 
thousand  clusters  of  grapes,  which  were  to  grow 


TEACHINGS    OF    JESUS.  73 

on  one  tendril,  the  fruitfulness  of  the  fields 
and  all  the  other  treasures,  which  were  ex- 
pected, must  be  grandly  indifferent  to  him  who 
had  meanwhile  entered  into  the  disposition,  the 
feeling,  and  the  ideals  with  which  the  preaching 
of  Jesus  had  already  completely  filled  the  heart. 
This  indeed  explains  the  indifference  of  Jesus 
to  the  peculiar  contents  of  the  coming  kingdom ; 
•an  indifference  that  never  attempted  to  picture 
its  coming  glory  and  that  passed  by  the  phan- 
tasies of  its  age  respecting  the  last  things.  But 
more  than  this,  he  was  strongly  possessed  of 
the  thought  that  in  his  ministry  and  spiritual 
deliverances  he  had  brought  the  long-expected 
redemption.  This  thought  had  not  become  ab- 
solutely clear  to  him,  gaining  for  itself  formu- 
lated expression,  but  it  was  present  and  left 
traces  of  itself.  His  entire  ministry  was  with- 
out that  impatient  expectation  so  characteristic 
of  John.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  pervaded  by 
a  sense  of  the  most  blessed  possession.  The 
merchant  found  his  costly  pearl,  and  the  treas- 
ure-digger, his  treasure.  What  more  could  they 
desire?  Meanwhile  the  consciousness  could 
grow  within  him  that  in  his  preaching  was  ful- 
filled the  prophecy  that  righteous  men  and 
prophets  had  been  expecting:  "Many  prophets 
and  righteous  men  desired  to  see  what  you  see, 
and  have  not  seen  it,  and  to  hear  what  you  hear 


74  LIFE  AND   MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

and  have  not  heard  it."  And  it  is  noticeable 
enough  and  intelligible  that,  even  with  Jesus, 
the  customary  meaning  of  the  "kingdom  of 
God"  was  being  modified,  and  was  losing  its  ex- 
clusively temporal  character.  It  no  longer  des- 
ignated an  inheritance  yet  to  come,  but  it  was 
silently  being  transformed  into  an  entirely  new 
significance,  into  that  of  an  internal  condition, 
an  internal  possession,  a  fortune  already  pos- 
sessed, a  rule  of  God  already  active,  a  commu- 
nity of  equals,  redeemed  and  God-serving,  al- 
ready present.  This  new  significance  of  the 
word  in  Jesus  was  by  no  means  a  completed 
fact ;  but  its  presence  was  powerfully  felt.  See 
especially  his  parables  on  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  particularly  that  wondrously  deep  one 
of  Mark  iv.  26:  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  as 
if  a  man  cast  seed  into  the  ground.  Then  he 
departs.  Forthwith  it  grows  without  any  as- 
sistance, silently  and  imperceptibly,  without 
compulsion,  without  rule,  without  pressure,  and 
without  any  artificial  activity,  but  spontane- 
ously as  the  corn,  first  the  blade,  then  the  ear, 
and  then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear.  What  springs 
up  thus  is  not  that  external  kingdom  which 
comes  like  lightning,  but  which  is  not  sown  and 
does  not  grow.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  the  still, 
silent  growth  and  development  of  the  inner  man, 
which  knows  nothing  of  compulsion  and  rule, 


TEACHINGS   OF   JESUS.  75 

but  which  advances  according  to  its  own  nature, 
just  as  the  corn  that  drops  into  prepared  soil. 
The  same  thing  is  taught  by  the  mustard  seed 
parable,  Mark  iv.  30.  It  is  not  the  "kingdom 
of  heaven"  that  comes  suddenly  from  above 
and  that  pertains  to  temporalities  that  grows 
and  extends  itself;  it  is  the  ministry  of  the  an- 
nouncement of  Jesus.  This  grows  from  insig- 
nificant beginnings  into  a  great  tree,  and  we 
shelter  today  under  its  branches.  Likewise  in 
Luke,  xvi.  16 :  ' '  The  law  and  the  prophets  were 
until  John ;  since  that  time  the  kingdom  of  God 
is  preached  and  every  man  presseth  into  it." 
The  joyful  message  here  is  no  longer  as  else- 
where, that  of  the  coming  kingdom.  The  mes- 
sage of  the  coming  kingdom  was  more  direct 
and  much  more  energetic  in  John.  The  message 
of  Jesus  referred  to  present  salvation,  the  sal- 
vation of  divine  sonship.  This  is  evident  from 
the  statement:  "Every  one  presseth  into  it." 
Now  no  man  could  force  himself  into  the  king- 
dom that  was  to  come  suddenly.  One  could  only 
wait  in  patience  until  God  willed  to  reveal  it. 
And,  finally,  we  refer  to  the  episode  of  Luke, 
xvii.  20:  Being  questioned  by  the  pharisees, 
when  the  kingdom  of  God  was  to  come,  he  an- 
swered them,  saying:  "The  kingdom  of  God 
cometh  not  with  observation.  They  will  not 
say,  lo  here  or  lo  there,  because  behold  the  king- 


76  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

dom  of  God  is  within  you."  One  indeed  ob- 
serves the  paradoxical  character  of  this  as  yet 
unusual  statement ;  but  the  new  representation 
is  indeed  completely  at  hand.  And  Paul's  in- 
terpretation and  setting  forth  of  it  is  quite  ac- 
curate, Rom.  xiv.  17:  "The  kingdom  of  God 
is  righteousness,  joy  and  peace  in  the  Holy 
Ghost." 

But  in  conclusion  we  must  guard  ourselves 
from  a  fundamental  misapprehension  of  the 
Gospel  of  Jesus.  It  has  often  been  regarded  as 
an  escape  from  the  world  and  the  sorrows  of 
the  world,  a  kind  of  ascetic  and  cloistral  ideal 
of  life.  People  object  to  this  idea  of  it,  because 
of  its  indifference  to  gain  and  possession,  to  na- 
tional, political,  and  social  tasks  and  to  many 
other  things,  which  many  of  us  deem  the  high- 
est and  noblest  interests  of  life ;  and  they  do  so 
apparently  with  justice.  And  on  the  other  hand, 
objection  is  made  to  such  apparently  dark  and 
fanatical  demands  as,  "If  thy  right  hand  offend 
thee,  cut  it  off,"  etc. 

But  let  us  begin  with  this  second  point. 
These  demands  are  not  at  all  fanatical,  are  not 
even  "ascetic"  in  the  true  sense  of  that  word, 
but  simply  intelligible.  These  are  demands  that 
every  idealism,  every  intelligible  idealism, 
emphasizes  and  must  emphasize.  Wherever  a 
man  submits  himself  to  his  ideals,  he  does  so 


TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS.  77 

entirely,  soul  and  body,  for  they  do  not  permit 
compromise  at  all ;  this  must  be  so  or  else  they 
are  no  ideals.  They  imply  renunciations  and 
sacrifices  under  the  hardest  conditions,  and  con- 
flicts of  the  bitterest  kind ;  but  these  are  all  nec- 
essary. This  is  always  true  when  the  questions 
of  ideals  or  of  conscience  are  uppermost ;  resig- 
nation to  God  and  submission  to  the  moral  law. 
It  was  the  greatness  of  Jesus  to  embody  the 
demand  of  the  ideal  in  decisive  and  complete 
one-sidedness,  and  to  cause  it  to  stand  forth 
not  only  as  a  demand  but  as  a  finished  product, 
incomparably  magnificent  and  completely 
unique,  confirmed  both  in  life  and  in  death. 

But  the  former  objections  are  conceded  to 
prove  nothing  for  the  ostensibly  negative  char- 
acter of  the  ethics  of  Jesus.  Indeed  the  ques- 
tion does  not  treat  of  any  inner  aversion  of  the 
Christian  principle  itself  to  the  subjects  in  dis- 
cussion. But  if  the  belief  that  the  end  of  things 
is  at  hand  continues  to  burden  people  it  is 
naturally  impossible  to  expect  the  growth  and 
the  development  of  any  intelligently  new  politi- 
cal and  social  interests  and  ideals.  Further, 
consider  this:  the  particular  mission  of  Jesus 
is  within  the  sphere  of  the  religious  and  the  eth- 
ical. But  the  idea  of  a  call  to  anything  implies 
that  the  whole  life  should  be  wholly  and  intelli- 
gently devoted  to  the  prosecution  of  only  one 


78  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

end.  The  more  a  person  realizes  himself  to  be 
called  for  a  special  purpose,  the  more  will  this 
consciousness  grow  within  him.  Jesus'  knowl- 
edge of  his  calling  is  clearly  indicated  in  Luke, 
xii.  14:  "Man,  who  made  me  a  judge  and  a  di- 
vider over  you?"  Likewise,  it  is  the  same  con- 
sciousness of  the  necessary  one-sidedness  of 
his  calling  that  speaks  in  his  answer  to  the 
Syro-Phoenician  woman,  "I  am  not  sent  but 
unto  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel." 

Furthermore,  to  conceive  Jesus  as  an  ascetic 
is  to  profoundly  misunderstand  his  character, 
his  piety,  and  his  temper.  One  can  hardly  make 
a  greater  mistake.  This  is  indeed  the  opposite 
of  the  truth,  for  in  this  lay  his  greatest  differ- 
ence from  the  Baptist.  We  find  John  in  the 
wilderness ;  we  find  Jesus  among  men,  entering 
into  their  joys,  their  feasts,  their  companion- 
ships and  struggles.  The  preaching  of  John 
was  sad,  gloomy,  and  heavy;  the  preaching  of 
Jesus  was  full  of  light  and  glory.  John's  dis- 
position was  that  of  a  slave ;  the  disposition  of 
Jesus  and  his  followers  was  that  of  the  free- 
born  sons  of  God.  The  faith  of  John  was  that 
of  the  Old  Testament  type,  harsh  and  full  of 
fear ;  the  faith  of  Jesus  that  of  triumphant  and 
childlike  certainty,  dwelling  beyond  all  fear  and 
care.  John  commanded  fasts;  Jesus  forbade 
them.    John  was  an  exemplary  ascetic,  wearing 


TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS.  79 

the  hairy  mantle,  living  the  hermit  life,  and  eat- 
ing locusts  and  wild  honey.  Jesus  knew  noth- 
ing of  all  this ;  no  peculiar  repentance,  no  spir- 
itual methods  and  rules  of  order;  he  dissolved 
all  observances,  founding  only  the  God-inspired 
disposition,  which  was  to  issue  freely  in  the 
choice  of  the  good.  John  exemplified  the  ascetic 
and  the  monkish  type  of  piety;  Jesus  was  the 
opposite  of  this  and  he  knew  this  full  well.  Here 
are  his  own  words : ' '  No  man  seweth  a  new  piece 
of  cloth  on  an  old  garment — And  no  man  put- 
teth  new  wine  into  old  bottles,"  etc.  Mark,  ii. 
22.  This  was  his  meaning  when  he  permitted 
himself  to  be  deprecatingly  called  a  glutton,  a 
winebibber,  and  a  friend  of  publicans  and  sin- 
ners, and  when  he  answered  the  surprising 
question  of  John's  disciples  as  to  why  his  dis- 
ciples did  not  fast,  saying,  "Can  the  compan- 
ions of  the  bridechamber  mourn  as  long  as  the 
bridegroom  is  with  them ! ' ' 

No  piety  is  so  remote  from  the  monkish  and 
cloistral  type  of  religion  as  that  of  Jesus,  so 
alien  to  the  activities  peculiar  to  that  class  of 
institutions.  Mystical  dispositions  and  ecstatic 
joy  may  be  taught  and  fostered  in  such  places, 
but  not  the  piety  of  Jesus.  His  piety  calls  at 
once  for  life,  for  many  kinds  of  experience,  for 
the  world  of  men,  for  fortune,  for  the  cross,  and 
for  the  entire  play  of  life,  in  order  to  become 


80  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

the  eternal  ground  tone  of  it  all.  It  can  be  as 
little  separated  from  the  complexities  of  life 
and  continue  to  thrive  as  a  melody  from  its 
variations.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  its  new 
righteousness  as  of  its  piety.  The  old  right- 
eousness of  the  pharisees  was  thoroughly 
1 'ascetic";  it  was  the  leaven  that  was  to  be 
swept  away.  The  plain  morality  of  Jesus  does 
not  admit  of  any  ascetic  additions.  Its  content 
is  plain  duty,  which  also  presupposes  the  world, 
brethren  and  communion  with  them.  The  fun- 
damental command  is,  love.  This  cuts  away  the 
roots  from  asceticism  in  all  its  forms.  The 
monk,  the  fugitive  from  the  world,  can  love  no 
neighbor;  indeed  he  has  none.  Love  presses 
immediately  into  life,  and  works  with  and  for 
men.  So  let  one  conceive  that  small  portion 
of  the  Scripture  which  speaks  of  the  impending 
end  of  the  world,  taken  away  from  the  Gospel ; 
let  one  conceive  the  joyful,  courageous  disposi- 
tion of  Jesus  which  contemplates  the  world,  the 
strong  ethical  will,  and  especially  this  love  to 
man  and  to  all  that  is  human  to  be  freed  from 
its  small  narrow  self-enclosed  communities  and 
to  be  placed  face  to  face  with  multifarious  life 
and  its  tasks,  and  it  will  be  seen  to  enter  into 
it  as  into  its  own  most  peculiar  sphere.  Apart 
from  this  sphere,  the  Gospel  becomes  stunted 
and  dry. 


TEACHINGS   OF   JESUS.  81 

The  above  objections  and  others  which  might 
be  mentioned  do  not  present  themselves  when 
the  sermons  of  Jesus  are  interpreted,  as  they 
should  be,  in  the  light  of  his  image  and  char- 
acter. The  traditional  view  strives  to  derive  it- 
self from  the  character  of  Jesus.  It  represents 
him  either  as  that  dogmatic  "double-being," 
that  "compound  person,"  of  whom  no  man  can 
properly  affirm  character,  or  as  the  incorpora- 
tion of  "the  man-in-himself,"  that  is,  uni- 
versal humanity  in  a  person.  Both  conceptions 
fail  when  we  compare  them  with  the  image  that 
the  Gospel  narrative  presents  to  us.  This  image 
is  no  universal  concept,  no  mere  abstraction  in 
a  person.  It  steps  forth  with  decisive  individu- 
ality, with  utmost  naturalness  and  with  well-de- 
fined character.  And  what  an  image!  To  see 
it  clearly  we  must  turn  aside  all  dogmatic  and 
half-dogmatic  delineations,  all  those  images 
small  and  great,  which  come  to  us  from  a  false 
artistic  tradition;  as  those  of  Hoffman,  Thu- 
mann  and  Gabriel  Max,  where  the  heads  are 
soft,  mild  and  almost  effeminately  sweet,  the 
hair  closely  parted  and  waving,  with  or  without 
those  fanatical  eye-lashes  and  the  somewhat 
enervated,  consumptive,  repentant,  and  ascetic 
form,  the  lines  of  the  face  partly  good-natured 
and  partly  fanatical.  These  pictures  have  been 
made  to  follow  all  kinds  of  artistic  or  inartistic 


82     '  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

and  phantastic  ideals,  but  not  the  historic  image 
of  the  first  three  Gospels.  No  one  would  divine 
from  these  that  he  called  two  of  his  disciples 
"sons  of  thunder"  and  that  these  two  belonged 
to  the  inner  circle  of  the  disciples;  that  he  re- 
bukingly  said  to  Peter  "get  thee  behind  me 
Satan,  for  thou  art  an  hindrance  to  me";  that 
he  dubbed  his  enemies  "whited  sepulchers  full 
of  all  uncleanness";  that  he  took  a  whip  of 
small  cords  to  clean  the  temple  of  the  money 
changers;  that  with  splendid  scorn  he  denom- 
inated Herod,  "the  fox";  that  he  could  return 
thanks  to  the  heavenly  Father;  and  that  he 
could  fight  with  his  own  heart  in  the  hottest 
battle  and  in  the  bitterest  sorrow.  One  would 
never  divine  from  these  that  highest  natural 
temperament,  which  formed  the  basis  of  the 
character  of  the  Christ.  Add  to  this  natural 
temperament,  the  religious  and  ethical  con- 
sciousness that  was  his,  and  we  are  face  to  face 
with  the  most  wonderful  character.  This  tem- 
perament possesses  the  incomparable  strength 
of  the  ethical  will,  the  passion  for  depth  and 
fervor,  the  glow  and  the  dauntless  energy,  which 
come  from  resignation  to  God,  to  one's  calling, 
and  to  one's  brethren.  He  possessed  such  an 
inner  concentration,  such  an  hierarchy  of  pow- 
ers, such  a  consciousness  of  self  and  of  God  as 
were  able  to  carry  him  victoriously  through  all 


TEACHINGS   OF  JESUS.  83 

the  storms  of  life.  Hence  lie  had  an  inner  cer- 
tainty, a  deep  assurance,  which  profited  in 
every  condition  and  which  made  the  plain  Naza- 
rene,  the  carpenter's  son,  superior  to  all  the 
scribes,  the  high  priests,  and  the  Roman  Pro- 
curator. He  was  an  upright,  resplendent,  genu- 
ine, free-born  and  truly  kingly  being.  But  he 
also  possessed  and  manifested — as  if  he  dared 
not  to  fail  in  anything — the  warmest  feeling  and 
the  purest  love.  Where  all  failed  he  knew  how 
to  understand,  to  pardon,  to  raise  up,  and  to 
console.  Publicans  and  sinners  whom  others 
cast  out,  he  sought,  discovered  and  awakened 
the  flickering  spark  of  their  faith  and  love.  He 
made  friends  of  the  children  and  commended 
the  childlike  disposition  to  the  disciples  as  a 
pattern  and  as  an  entrance  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  But  over  and  above  all  this  extended 
the  naturalness,  the  sweetness,  the  freshness, 
the  glory  and  the  charm  of  his  being  and  espe- 
cially of  his  words,  the  multifarious  and  trans- 
parent quality  of  his  thought  and  images,  the 
plasticity  of  his  parables,  and  the  inexhaustible 
and  many-sided  character  of  the  world  of  his 
ideas.  These  sprang  up  and  flowed  forth  so 
easily,  so  lightly,  so  full  of  intelligence  and 
spontaneity  as  to  become  at  once  classical  and 
imperishable;  without  being  pathetic  and  sol- 
emn, with  everything  that  was  highest  and  best, 


84  LIFE  AND  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS. 

this  teaching  was  comprehensible  to  the  plain- 
est man  and,  at  the  same  time,  full  of  infinite 
matter  to  the  deepest. 

And  we  have  this  all  indeed  only  in  frag- 
ments, in  pieces,  falsely  put  together  by  the  un- 
skillfulness  of  tradition;  we  see  it  all,  so  to 
speak,  in  a  dark  and  badly  broken  mirror !  What 
must  this  have  been  to  those  who  heard  him 
with  their  own  ears,  and  had  an  experience  of 
him !  What  must  the  original  have  been,  if  the 
disfigured  image  is  so  resplendent !  Truly  the 
historical  image  loses  none  of  the  reverence, 
which  the  disciples  of  Jesus  brought  at  all  times 
to  the  Master.  Indeed  it  does  not  lead  us  back 
to  the  old  pictures  with  the  Jesus  lamb,  or  to 
the  sentimental  forms  of  the  earliest  Jesus  of 
the  mystics;  but  it  leads  us  by  so  much  the 
more  to  a  fundamental  and  ever  growing  "hero- 
worship,"  which  breaks  out  anew  with  fresh- 
ness and  joy  into  the  ancient  acclaims  and  con- 
fessions :  Christ  our  Lord,  our  Hero,  our  King. 
And  it  is  a  matter  of  disposition  and  individual 
thought  what  form  this  reverence  is  to  take 
and  what  depth  it  is  to  attain. 


A  CLOSING  WORD. 

So  much  in  answer  to  the  question  as  to  the 
life  of  Jesus  historically  conceived.  A  num- 
ber of  other  questions  now  follow.  What  sig- 
nificance has  the  preaching  of  Jesus  for  us,  for 
our  convictions,  and  for  our  faith  and  our  en- 
deavor after  piety.  What  significance  has  his 
person  to  the  validity  of  his  preaching?  For 
it  is  already  evident  that  for  such  an  announce- 
ment as  his,  its  claim  for  truth  and  absolute 
validity,  the  person  of  the  announcer  has  much 
more  significance  than  that  of  Euclid  for  the 
validity  of  his  geometry.  Further,  there  is  the 
general  question:  Are  the  great  phenomena 
and  contents  of  the  history  to  be  conceived  as 
a  "revelation,"  announcing  the  way  to  know 
and  to  realize  the  eternal  meaning  and  pur- 
pose of  present  day  life?  And  suggested  by 
this  general  question  is  the  special  one:  Are 
we  to  regard  the  history  of  religion  and  espe- 
cially the  Israelitish  religion  and  the  phenom- 
enon of  Jesus  as  a  "revelation"?  And  many 
like  questions  offer  themselves.  Opportunity 
may  perhaps  present  itself  to  return  to  these 
questions.  But  it  was  necessary  first  of  all  to 
consider  the  more  fundamental  one.  To  repeat 
it  once  more:  this  was  the  chief  aim,  the  aim 
that  justifies  these  lectures. 

(85) 


Die  Schriften  des  Neuen  Testaments 

neu  uebersetzt  und  fuer  die  Gegenwart  erklaert 

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1906=7.  2.  verbesserte  u.  vermehrte  Auflage.  8.  bis  19.  bezw.  20.  Tausend 

Preis  bei  gleichzeitiger  Bestellung  der  beiden,  1644  Seiten 
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Die  6500  Exemplare  starke  erste  Auflage  war  schon  vor 
ihrer  Vollendung  vollig  vergriffen,  ein  Beweis,  wie  gross  der 
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naher  zu  bringen  sucht. 

Ein  Urteil  ueber  das  Bibelwort: 

Aus  der  Fulle  der  Besprechungen  greifen  wir  den  Schluss 
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sein  scheint,  da  hier  von  Voreingenommenheit  fur  das  Werk 
nicht  die  Rede  sein  kann :  "...  .Jedoch  auf  das  Ganze  gesehen, 
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dies  zu  sagen,  auch  wenn  der  Sats  nicht  angenehm  zu  horen 
sein  sollte.     (Ref.  Kirchenzeitung  1906,  N.  39.) 

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218.  HYMNS  OF  THE  FAITH  (DHAMMAPADA),  being  an  Ancient 
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349.  ON  LIFE  AFTER  DEATH.  Gustav  Theodor  Fechner.  Tr.  from 
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361.  THE  VOCATION  OF  MAN.  Johann  Gottlieb  Fichte.  Tr.  by 
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272.  A  BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  MATHEMATICS.  Dr.  Karl  Fink. 
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The  Monist  Advocates  the 
Philosophy  of  Science 

Which  is  an  application  of  the  scientific  method  to 
philosophy.  The  old  philosophical  systems  were 
mere  air-castles  (constructions  of  abstract  theories), 
built  in  the  realm  of  pure  thought.  The  Philosophy 
of  Science  is  a  eystematization  of  positive  facts;  it 
takes  experience  as  its  foundation,  and  uses  the 
systematized  formal  relations  of  experience  (mathe- 
matics, logic,  etc.)  as  its  method.  It  is  opposed  on 
the  one  hand  to  the  dogmatism  of  groundless  a  priori 
assumptions,  and  on  the  other  hand,  to  the  scepticism 
of  negation  which  finds  expression  in  the  agnostic 
tendencies  of  to-day. 

Monism  Means  a  Unitary 
World  -  Conception 

There  may  be  different  aspects  and  even  contrasts, 
diverse  views  and  opposite  standpoints,  but  there  can 
never  be  contradiction  in  truth.  Monism  is  not  a 
one-substance  theory,  be  it  materialistic  or  spiritual- 
istic or  agnostic;  it  means  simply  and  solely  con- 
sistency. All  truths  form  one  consistent  system,  and 
any  dualism  of  irreconcilable  statements  indicates 
that  there  is  a  problem  to  be  solved;  there  must  be 
fault  somewhere  either  in  our  reasoning  or  in  our 
knowledge  of  facts.  Science  always  implies  Monism, 
i.  e.,  a  unitary  world-conception. 

Illustrated  Catalogue  and  Sample  Copies  Free. 

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Date  Due 

pr  3  1   '41 

Jipl*'4 

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BS2420.0913 

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